A 16-year-old girl was impaled on metal railings after slipping while trying to climb over locked gates at a Kent railway station.

The spike pierced her right thigh and she had to be cut free by firefighters. The incident happened at Margate.

Throughout her ordeal, she was tended by ambulance crews and taken to Margate's Queen Mother Hospital - with the metal still stuck in her leg.

The accident happened shortly after 10pm on Friday in Station Approach Road. Police believe the teenager and a friend decided to take a short cut by climbing over gates leading to Nayland Road rather than walking around the station perimeter.

A police spokesman said: “This is a stark warning to others how foolish it is to try and climb over spiked fences or any high railings.

"A short walk would have saved this young woman a lot of pain and suffering.”

Police say the injury is not thought to be life-threatening.