The London Eye has broken down, leaving tourists stranded in sweltering heat as temperatures soared to 29C in the capital.

The popular attraction experienced technical difficulties on what has become the hottest May Day on record.

Visitors were left waiting in the baking sunshine while the issue was being addressed.

Temperatures reached 28C at Kew Gardens in South-West London this afternoon, marking an exceptional start to the month.

The London Eye has broken down

Footage from the scene shows an announcement being made at the London Eye informing visitors that engineers were attending to the problem.

Tourists could be seen waiting at the base of the attraction as temperatures continued to climb throughout the afternoon.

The technical fault left visitors who had been planning to enjoy panoramic views of the capital instead queueing in the unexpected heatwave.

Engineers were quickly dispatched to address the issue, though it's unclear how long visitors were kept waiting.

It is not clear how long tourists were left waiting for the London Eye to be fixed

Despite enginieers appearing to fix the issue quickly, the Metro reports London's iconic landmark broke down a second time within an hour of the attraction resuming operation.

An announcement was made to those in attendance around 3.45pm this afternoon but it is understood the London Eye stopped working again just 40 minutes later.

The Met Office confirmed that today marks the warmest start to May since records began.

Forecasters predict temperatures could climb even higher, potentially reaching 30C in some parts of the country.

Met Office’s Aidan McGivern describes the small possibility of 30C today

Today's heat has already surpassed the previous May Day record of 27.4C, which was recorded at Lossiemouth, Moray, on May 1, 1990.

The current temperatures are particularly remarkable when compared to last summer, which wasn't even close to being this hot.

Last year's summer saw average temperatures of only 14C, making today's May heatwave all the more extraordinary.