A footbridge has been built at a station after a youngster came within inches of being hit by a train.

The person has been caught on camera walking out into the path of an oncoming train.

They spot it just seconds before it is due to strike, and pictures show it passing just feet from the frightened youngster.

Now Network Rail bosses have taken the drastic decision to build the temporary footbridge at Hamstreet station.

Video footage from stations also shows users - including schoolchildren - regularly crossing the tracks without looking or listening out for oncoming trains.

Until now, the design of the station meant the only way of getting between the platforms was to cross the tracks.

Train line bosses now place to close crossing and replace it with a permanent solution in the next few years.

A spokesman said the situation was now deemed so serious the temporary footbridge has been built and the crossing taken out of use and fenced off.

Network Rail route managing director, Dave Ward, said: "We have been working on plans for a permanent, accessible alternative to the level crossing but having seen videos of these latest incidents, we took the decision to act sooner rather than later.

"We’ve got a long way to go to close all the crossings we have to in the south east, and we need the help of everyone, from passengers to councils and our neighbours to help us make the railway safer."

He added: "We realise that a side effect of this decision is that we no longer have step-free access between the ticket office and platform 2, although there are still ramps to the individual platforms."

Southern’s station group manager, Graham Thrower, said: "Our overriding priority is the safety of our passengers and staff.

"This footbridge will remove the risk from the station and although the crossing will be closed, our passengers who will be unable to use the footbridge may gain access via the ramp to platform 2 from the road.

"We have also installed a ticket machine on platform 2 for passengers travelling towards Hastings."

Locals have been campaigning for a safer crossing for years, expressing fears that the pedestrian access point across the rail lines has no gates or stop lights and relies on people looking out for approaching trains before walking across

Cllr Peter Davison (Ash Ind) whose Weald South ward borders with Hamstreet, is among those who have highlighted the and campaigned for a bridge.

He has welcomed the new crossing.

He said: “The issue of the dangerous crossing was first raised as far back as 1991 but it is really over the last five years that we have been pressuring to have something done.

“We proposed that the bridge was the best answer to the problem but back then Network Rail said they could not fund it.”

In 2013, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) announced it would provide £70 million to close “high risk” crossings across the country and improve the safety of hundreds more.

The foot crossing at Hamstreet Station is similar to the Elsenham crossing in Essex where two teenage girls were killed in 2005.

Cllr Davison continued: “The Parish Council is particularly pleased that something has finally been done about the safety issue and in my opinion the bridge is the safest solution.”