This the heartstopping moment a man is dragged off his feet by an incoming train at a busy London station.
Commuters across the country are being urged to take extra care this Festive period following a year-on-year increase in accidents compared to last Christmas.
In the shocking CCTV footage, released by Govia Thameslink, a man can be seen stood on a platform at London Blackfriar.
He is precariously close to the track and well beyond the yellow line – where passengers are suppose to stand.
As the train pulls into the station the man is knocked off his feet by the carriage and he is almost swept onto the railway track.
Instead, the train appears to clip his feet which spins the man around before fellow passengers rush to help the man as the clip abruptly ends.
According to Thameslink – which operates the UK’s largest rail network, Thursday December 12 saw the highest number of passengers since pre-pandemic levels. This represented a 36 per cent increase.
With that rise, commuters are reportedly becoming more accident-prone with the number of trips, slips and falls increasing since last Winter – intoxication believed to be a contributing factor.
In the shocking CCTV footage, released by Govia Thameslink, a man can be seen stood on a platform at London Blackfriar where he is precariously close to the track
As the train pulls into the station the man is knocked off his feet by the carriage and he is almost swept onto the railway track
Instead, the train appears clip his feet which spins the man around before fellow passengers can be seen rushing to help the man before the clip abruptly ends
London Victoria – which saw a whopping 50million passengers pass through its ticket barriers in the last year – and Gatwick Airport saw some the highest number of injuries.
According to Thameslink, the most dangerous station for accidents on their network is Stevenage in Hertfordshire.
Samantha Facey, Health Safety & Security Director at Thameslink and Great Northern, said: ‘We’re already seeing a higher volume of passengers due to the festive season, and whilst our staff on the ground are there to help, it’s important people are doing their bit to keep themselves safe.
‘We had over 150 incidents of slips, trips and falls on the network last winter and these can be extremely dangerous on the railway.
‘Please leave plenty of time to travel so you don’t need to run for a train and always stay behind the yellow safety line to protect yourselves and other travellers.
‘Following these simple steps will help you to get home safely this Christmas.’
The warnings comes just over a month after the former Home Secretary David Blunkett was injured after he fell into the platform gap while trying to board the Underground.
David Blunkett, a Labour peer and former Home Secretary, said he was getting on a District Line train with his guide dog (pictured with Barley) at Westminster Tube last month when his feet slipped
Network Rail recently took to X to warn the public to stay alert at crossings and posted a horrifying compilation of incidents where people narrowly avoided being hit
Mr Blunkett, who is blind, needed hospital treatment for ‘excruciating pain’ in his legs and branded some platforms ‘death traps’.
The former home secretary and Labour peer said he was getting on a District Line train at Westminster with his guide dog when the accident occured.
He said: ‘As I took a step to get on the train, I felt my feet disappearing down the gap.
‘In an instant my body had been propelled forward into the carriage and I was face- down on the floor. My legs had somehow been scraped out of the gap and into the carriage.’
‘I didn’t fully know what had happened. I felt enormous pain in both my legs; they were bruised and grazed,’ he continued.
The 77-year-old is calling for TfL to make efforts to fill the widest gaps on platforms and make sure there is always someone there to help, especially during rush hour.
He added: ‘Some of our platforms are death traps. The gap between the walkway and train is huge and they are unsafe for everyone, but particularly for blind people.’
Meanwhile, Network Rail recently took to X to warn the public to stay alert at crossings after the operator posted a horrifying compilation of incidents where people narrowly avoided being hit.
More footage showed a lorry trying to cross as the barrier came down – which caught on the back of the vehicle and was dragged along the track
In one video, a young man and woman walked across a track which had a lowered safety barrier before noticing halfway that a train was approaching.
They then sprinted to the other side with just two seconds to spare.
In another video of a similar crossing, a cyclist tried to cross as the barrier began to lower but crashed into another biker coming from the opposite direction.
In the third video, a dog walker began to cross a more rural train track but their pet resisted, and when the man saw the train coming he immediately turned back.
More footage showed a lorry trying to cross as the barrier came down – which caught on the back of the vehicle and was dragged along the track.
The fifth clip showed a reckless group clinging on to the barriers as they went up and down at a crossing.
In another near miss, a man and woman scrambled over a fence and one sprinted across
In another near miss, a man and woman scrambled over a fence and one sprinted across the track.
The other hung back and a high-speed train rushed past just seconds later.
In one of the videos posted by Network Rail, a cyclist wheeled their bike over a pair of tracks before stopping in the middle and staring at the incoming train.
They then strolled on casually before the train stormed past where they had stood just seconds before.
