London-bound trains ground to a halt at Leigh station while firefighters tackled a blaze believed to have been caused by a petrol bomb.

The Daily Grind station cafe had been set alight, and trains had to be stopped at Chalkwell station as smoke billowed across the platform.

The owner of the cafe spotted two suspects running away from the scene of the fire, which took place at 9pm on Tuesday, and called police.

Sub officer Paul Copeland, from Leigh fire station, said: "We got a call to a fire on the platforms at the railway station. When we turned up, the little cafe there was well alight.

"It is being investigated as a deliberate fire because it was a report of a petrol bomb."

Firefighters went in with breathing masks and a hose reel was run across the tracks to put out the flames.

Mr Copeland said: "The rail network told us it had a fast train coming through, so we said, You need to stop it because we've got a hose reel going across the line'."

He added the fire was put out quickly and trains only had to be stopped for ten minutes.

However, the interior of the cafe was destroyed and the there was a structural crack to the building as a result.

The incident is also being investigated by British Transport Police, who said they were going through CCTV footage.