A mother and child who fell onto the track at a busy Tube station only avoided serious injury by scrambling into a pit to allow an oncoming train to pass above them, police said.

Police said the woman was pushing a buggy along a platform at Baker Street station in London at 22:15 on Friday as she checked the arrivals board.

But she distractedly veered too close to the edge, and fell down.

The woman was walking along the platform, pushing her child in a pram and looking up at the indicator board when she accidentally fell, according to British Transport Police (BTP).

Officers said she did not realise how close she was to the edge of the platform and accidentally pushed the buggy wheels over it.

With her, the pram and the child on the track, the father jumped down to help.

Police said that when they saw the oncoming train, all three were “extremely fortunate” as they were able move into a pit under the track.

The train then passed over the top of them.

A spokesman for the BTP said: “Amazingly none of them were seriously hurt, but as a precaution they were taken to hospital for check-ups.”