A disabled man was hit by a train after his mobility scooter rolled off a train station platform.

The 58-year-old man from Horsham was thrown across the tracks when his scooter fell from the platform edge at Littlehaven train station in the town.

Miraculously he was not seriously hurt, but his scooter was wedged under the wheels of the oncoming train as he was flung from the scooter.

The man landed between the rails so the oncoming train passed over him.

British Transport Police said the train was coming into the station so the slow speed of the train could have saved his life. He was taken to East Surrey Hospital with head and leg injuries, but they were not thought to be life threatening.

The man’s scooter was dragged about 20 feet after being crushed by the train.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “He was sitting on a mobility scooter and has gone forward off a station platform and has gone under the train. It was his mobility scooter that was wedged under the front of the train and has been carried about 20ft.

“He's come off the scooter and has been thrown under the train. He was left midway down the first carriage. He had been thrown between the tracks so the train passed straight over him.”

The power to the line was cut and paramedics and firefighters eased the man – who was thought to be conscious throughout – on to a spinal board.

Emergency service crews then inched him along the tracks to gap in the bogeys where he was brought out and taken to hospital.”

Rail staff were able to reverse the train releasing the trapped scooter from under the wheels without the need for fire crews' specialist equipment.

British Transport Police said that they did not believe anyone else had been involved in the man's fall and it was not being treated as suspicious.

A spokesman said: “BTP and Sussex Police officers were called to Littlehaven railway station at 12.21pm, following a report of a man being struck by a train.

“Paramedics from the South East Coast Ambulance Service attended and the man, who suffered head injuries, was taken to hospital.

“The incident is currently being treated as unexplained and enquiries to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing.

“The man, a 58-year-old from Horsham, was taken to hospital after suffering minor head and leg injuries during the incident, which police are treating as non-suspicious.”

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said the man suffered injuries to his head, as well as other parts of his body.