SOME Times readers may have been rather baffled by an advertisement which appeared in the March 26 issue of the newspaper.

The full page advert said that rail improvement works during the Easter holiday 'will affect journeys through Tavistock from April 3 to 12'.

Readers may have been puzzled because there has not been a railway service to Tavistock since it was shut down in the late 1960s!

However, James Davis, a spokesman for First Great Western, said the train company was simply pre-warning its rail passengers in the area that their journeys could be affected by works on the main lines.

First Great Western is encouraging passengers to check before they travel this Easter as Network Rail carries out the penultimate phase of the £895-million redevelopment of Reading Station.

Mr Davis said: 'The whole purpose of the advert is simply to make people aware that there will be disruption during the Easter period due to improvement works being carried out on the railway lines in the South West. We wanted to inform both our regular passengers and anyone else who is using our train services over that period.

'People may be travelling through Tavistock on to stations such as Exeter, Plymouth or Gunnislake to continue their journey by rail and there may be great disruption on their journey over Easter.'

From Good Friday to Easter Monday (April 3 to 6) and on Sunday, April 12, Devon and Cornwall services will be diverted via Basingstoke into London Waterloo adding up to 60 minutes to journey times.

The Night Riviera Sleeper departs from London Paddington at 10.33pm on the night of Thursday, April 2. On Friday 3, Sunday 5 and Monday 6 the sleeper will not operate. Instead there will be an overnight high speed train service from London Waterloo to Penzance.

First Great Western strongly advised passengers to check http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Easter2015">www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Easter2015 for more information.