PASSENGERS screamed in horror as a man fell into the path of an oncoming train at York Station.

The middle-aged man appears to have slipped and fallen between the tracks on platform nine at about 1.45pm yesterday as a CrossCountry train headed towards him.

But he had a miraculous escape, lying down and letting the 250-tonne train travel over him.

When it had stopped he simply sat back up in one of the gaps between the carriages.

Alana Byrne, a 20-year-old archaeology student from Fishergate in York, was at platform nine with her boyfriend and witnessed the dramatic scenes.

She said: "I was at the platform waiting for the train with my boyfriend.

"As it came in, I turned away to leave and heard screaming. I turned back around and this man was gone, there was just his suitcase lying on the platform.

"He was sitting up as the train came towards him then he just lay down. He sat back up when the gap between the two carriages was over him.

"When I saw the guy he was fine, he was just sitting up on the track between the two carriages. It was a miracle he survived."

She said train stewards then helped him off the track and he was helped into a wheelchair before being taken to York Hospital in an ambulance for a check-up.

The train the man was waiting for was the 1.45pm to Bournemouth. A spokesman for the Arriva-owned CrossCountry, which operates the service, said the train was delayed by 70 minutes. He said the driver of the train had to give a statement to British Transport Police and was obviously shaken by the incident.

The spokesman said the driver was relieved from duty and a relief driver was used to take the train on to Birmingham before passengers were transferred to another train for the final leg of the trip.

A spokeswoman for British Transport Police said officers were taking statements to try to discover how the incident had happened, but confirmed the man, who is believed to be in his 40s, was relatively unscathed after being run over by the 250-tonne train.

She said: "The service travelled into the station and passed over the man. He received minor injuries - cuts and grazes - and officers at the scene are currently investigating the incident."