A RAIL company has launched an investigation after a five-year-old boy fell through the gap between a train and the station platform.

Jack House ended up stranded on the track just moments before the train pulled away.

Dad Gary, 43, made a dramatic rescue bid by crawling under the carriage to reach his screaming son.

The Southampton family were heading home from a trip to Sandown beach on the Isle of Wight when the drama happened.

The group of four adults and six children were getting off the small electric train - run by Island Line as part of the UK's national rail network - at Ryde Esplanade, when Jack slipped on to the track.

He suffered bruises, grazes and was shaken by his ordeal - but was otherwise unhurt. Mr House, of Vine Road, Shirley Warren, said: "I just looked down and saw Jack lying there, screaming.

"If the train had pulled away he could have lost an arm or a leg. Without thinking I just jumped down to pull him out and the first thing he said was that he thought he was going to die. If I could get through that gap to rescue Jack then anyone could. It's so dangerous - I hate to think what could have happened.

"On the way out to Sandown there were verbal warnings over the tannoy about the gaps, but not on the way back. Something needs to be done before someone is seriously hurt. "

A spokesman for Island Line, a Stagecoach company, which operates the Isle of Wight's eight and a half miles of passenger railway, said the gap between the train and platform was six inches at most.

He added: "There's a step down of four inches from the train and then as the platform curves the distance can, in some places, be a little wider.

"I am waiting for more information about this so we can investigate further. We will be looking at CCTV.

"We are treating this very seriously and I have apologised to the family - but it could be a combination of things such as not holding on to the child's hand or maybe he was jostled in a group.

We have never had anything like this happen in the four and a half years I've worked here."