Elderly woman injured after Tube passenger slides down middle of escalator and crashes into her

British Transport Police have launched an investigation after the 70-year-old was taken to hospital following the incident

The incident happened at North Greenwich Underground Station at 7am on Wednesday (REX Features)

A woman has been taken to hospital after being hit by a passenger sliding down an escalator at a busy Tube station.

British Transport Police have launched an investigation after the 70-year-old suffered injuries to her arm just after 7am on Thursday at North Greenwich Underground station.

Two ambulance crews attended and treated two patients, taking one woman to hospital, a spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said.

British Transport Police said: "Our officers were called to North Greenwich London Underground station on Thursday 14 April following reports of a person injured. The call came into police at 7.07am.

"Officers attended and found a 70-year-old woman with injuries to her arm. Officers will be speaking to another woman in connection with incident in due course."

The woman was sent “flying to her knees” and was “badly hurt” as a result of the impact, a witness told the London Evening Standard.

Paul Wolverton, 52, told the newspaper: "The escalator was stopped and the older lady was at the bottom of the escalator on all fours and could not get up, she was badly hurt.

"The younger girl was crying because she had injured her hand and wrist and was bleeding. She was being comforted by her friends.

"There was an Underground worker standing over the women who could not get up.

"She was trying to calm the situation down because an eyewitness had seen what had happened and were saying that the young woman should be arrested, but the guard was saying it was an accident."

A Transport for London spokeswoman said: "Safety is our top priority and pranks like this are dangerous for not only those involved but also to other customers.

"We have frequent PA announcements reminding customers to be careful when using escalators, and we also run safety campaigns throughout the year to encourage customers to take care whilst travelling on our network."

Additional reporting by PA