It's the ultimate love story – two strangers meet on a railway platform and fall in love.

But this wasn't the classic movie Brief Encounter, and this pair met in the train crew area but for train drivers Ben and Lauren Stowers, it was still a whirlwind romance.

Ben and Lauren first met on shift at Dartford station when they walked into the crew area and saw each other for the first time.

Ben said: "I had walked into the mess room moaning and her initial thoughts of me were 'he is so miserable'. My first recollection of Lauren was seeing her and thinking she was beautiful. We became firm friends quickly."

Of the 2,000 trains operating on the network every day, the pair caught brief moments together between their departures.

They have now been together since 2017, as their relationship went from friendship to romance.

Despite becoming official, Ben still found himself feeling nervous when speaking to Lauren. He said: "I remember my mouth getting so dry as I could not believe we were an item. I still cannot.

"I think our colleagues knew we were a couple before even we did, due to our great friendship and the way I looked at her."

Between them, the now-husband-and-wife have been at the train operating company for more than 30 years but still find ways to separate work from home by keeping train driving talk to a minimum.

But Ben admits, as a fellow lover of the railway, he often quizzes Lauren on the latest policies – trying and failing to catch her out thanks to Lauren’s expert knowledge from working at Southeastern’s Slade Green station.

Both are so committed to work, the couple will be celebrating this Valentine’s Day apart as Ben heads into Grove Park station for his shift.

Whether it was fate, or the shift schedule that brought them together, Ben credits work for their whirlwind romance. He said: "The best thing about working for Southeastern for me is that I got to meet Lauren. Cheesy I know, but true."