A SHOCKED pensioner has told of the terrifying moment she shot through a rail carriage in her motorised scooter and was left dangling in the path of an oncoming train.

Tina Dees boarded the waiting train at a station on her 4mph machine but mistimed her braking.

To the shock and horror of passengers she sailed airborne through the carriage and crashed into the doors opposite.

They flew open and 80-year-old Tina's scooter got wedged in them.

She was jetisoned from her seat but was astonishingly saved from serious injury when the collar of her blouse became snagged on the handlebars.

Her relief was short-lived as she realised another train was heading along the tracks.

She had no option but to struggle free and drop onto the tracks in a bid to escape.

The accident happened while Mrs Dees was boarding the train at the Brockley Whins station in South Shields on the Tyneside Metro system.

There is a step-up of about three or four inches from the platform to the train, so Mrs Dees was taking a short run-up in her scooter to get enough momentum to get her back wheels up onto the carriage when the accident happened.

The electric scooter is not fitted with brakes - it comes to a standstill when the accelarator is released, but there is a couple of seconds delay until it stops dead.

Mrs Dees says she sometimes bumps into the doors on the other side of the carriage - but never at any real speed.

But this time the doors gave way and she found herself teetering over the edge of the train looking down toward the tracks in terror when her scooter got jammed in the doors by its rear wheels.

She immediately realised the only way she could be rescued was to wriggle free from her chair and fall onto the lines in front of an oncoming Metro.

"It was just horrifying - I knew the only way I could get out was to let myself drop onto the tracks," said Mrs Dees.

"That moment has been in my mind ever since - I've had trouble sleeping."

Stunned passengers watched as Mrs Dees dropped onto the Metro lines and a man and a girl immediately leapt down to signal to an oncoming Metro, which stopped just 50 yards from where she lay.

Paramedics were called and Mrs Dees, who has two step-children, was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital and treated for cuts and bruises.

She then had to return later in the evening to be treated for further lacerations which mum-of-three Mrs Stead, a retired factory worker, spotted while helping her get changed.

Tina is on large quantities of pain killers so couldn't feel the wounds when doctors checked her for injuries.

"I had to take her clothes off for her and they were drenched in blood, and there were for or five wounds on her stomach that the hospital hadn't noticed, so we had to go back," she said.

Mrs Dees' scooter has been taken away for repairs by her insurance company, and she says she has been all but housebound without it - but intends to get back out and about as soon as she can.

A spokesman for Nexus said an investigation into how the accident happened was underway and added it was unknown for the doors to burst open on impact.

He said: "We launched a thorough investigation into what happened which at this stage indicates the doors were not at fault.

"This incident is unprecedented in Metro history and we are absolutely confident our trains are safe."