Flaming June scorched its way through the record books again yesterday, as the temperature soared to 91F (32.2C) in London, only a shade lower than the hottest day ever recorded in the capital, in 1940. Office workers stripped off and plunged into the fountains at Trafalgar Square, and the more sedate businessmen retained their bowlers and brollies while bathing their tired feet. But things were not so happy for hundreds of commuters who sweltered in the oppressive heat for 90 minutes when a tube train became stranded in a tunnel after a signal failure between Swiss Cottage and St John’s Wood. Passengers overcome by heat smashed windows and stripped to the waist. But when the train arrived at Baker Street after what should have been an eight-minute journey, no one needed hospital treatment. An inquiry is being held.The AA and RAC reported a flood of calls from motorists whose cars had overheated. The M4 was blocked from Heston to Chiswick by a collection of broken down vehicles and there were tailbacks of three miles in both directions. The temperature at the AA station near Gallows Corner, Romford, Essex, was reported to have reached 101F, and it was said to be 99.7F at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. But the London Weather Centre said last night that some temperatures recorded during the day were misleading. “They were probably recorded in direct sunlight,” said a spokesman. Four places shared the honours as the hottest spots in Britain, he said: London; Heathrow Airport; Jersey; and Farnborough, Hampshire, all with 91F.The Guardian, 26 June 1976.The North also had its share of the sun. Leeds had its hottest day of the year at 90F and ambulance men were called out to more than 40 fainting cases. Thursday night was the warmest night in London for the past 29 years with a temperature of 70F. The London Weather Centre said it will continue to be sunny, with an increasing risk of thunderstorms. Contingency plans have been drawn up for Tower Bridge in case heat expansion damages the bridge. The 82-year-old bridge was closed once before during a heatwave when the two sides of the bridge expanded so much that they could not be closed.The day they came to the boil on the Bakerloo lineBy Gillian Linscott