A 12-year-old was airlifted to a London hospital after falling off an escalator.

The schoolboy reportedly plunged from the side of the structure by Sainsbury's, in Romney Place, Maidstone, at 5.30pm yesterday.

He suffered back, abdomen and shoulder pain and was treated by paramedics at the scene before being flown to King's College Hospital.

The escalator links The Mall shopping centre with the supermarket. It is not yet known how he fell.