A heroic taxi driver has described the moment he convinced a young man not to take his own life on the railway tracks.

Adrian Yeatman, who works for Abacus Cars, was returning to Herne Bay station just after 1am when he saw the man jump from the platform.

After phoning the British Transport Police to stop the trains, he ran towards the tracks to speak to him.

“I just told him, 'look, there’s more to life than this. Let's have a chat and a smoke',” said the 44-year-old.

“He was only a foot from the live rail.

“When I talked him off the tracks and onto the platform a newspaper delivery guy arrived and I asked for his assistance.

“We had to hold him down in the forecourt for his own safety.”

Mr Yeatman says officers and paramedics arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after his phone call.

An ambulance service spokesman confirmed the man was assessed at the station before being taken to the QEQM hospital in Margate.

A witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, believes the "young lad would have been run over" if the cabbie had not been there.

Mr Yeatman added: “The whole incident was about an hour long.

"I feel relieved that I was there for him, but it was horrific.

“I tried to go to sleep afterwards, shut my eyes and I could see him lying on the tracks.”

The man had entered the station through a gate left unlocked for late-night passengers. It happened on Monday.

Mr Yeatman says he and his colleagues at Abacus regularly see children playing close to the line in the early hours of the morning as a result.

“It’s a great concern of ours working close to the station as the gate should be locked,” he said.

“One day someone will get hurt unless something’s done.

"I tried to go to sleep afterwards, shut my eyes and I could see him lying on the tracks" - Adrian Yeatman

“Many of the drivers here will tell you it’s becoming a playground for children and now we’re on the summer holidays it really needs addressing.

“Sometimes at 2am you get a group of teenagers up here that has been drinking and arguing and fighting on the platform. It’s very worrying.”

However, a spokesman for Southeastern, which runs the station, says the company does not plan to shut the gates any earlier.

“We have to keep them open for passengers on the last train through Herne Bay - only then can the station be closed for the night,” he added.

“We are of course very concerned for the welfare of every vulnerable person on the railway.

“This is why we work very closely with the British Transport Police and deploy our own rail enforcement officers to locations where we’ve had reports of people who need taking to a place of safety.”

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay