A BLIND man criticised Wessex Trains after falling into the gap between the platform and a carriage at Truro railway station.

David Halliwell, 30, a producer at BBC Radio Cornwall in Truro, suffered serious bruising when he fell into the gap while trying to board the 4.55pm Plymouth to Penzance train but says he could have been seriously hurt.

He says the accident happened because the vehicles run by the company are narrower than other services and there is no warning for the visually impaired as to where the end of the platform is.

Mr Halliwell, who lives in Falmouth, is calling for a "pimple platform" to be installed to warn people where the platform ends before someone is seriously injured.

He said the platform between the Falmouth branch line and the main Truro line was not very wide so it was quite dangerous for someone in his position without any guidance.

"It was rush hour with lots of people getting on and off," said Mr Halliwell. "The train stopped at Truro. I stepped up to get on the carriage and it wasn't there. I missed the step and fell down the gap. It was a much wider gap than usual. I suffered bruises and was really lucky - I could have really hurt myself.

"You can book disabled assistance, but you have to do it 24 hours before you travel which isn't really practical because you don't always know you're going to be travelling.

"It raises the issue, what are they going to do about it? Quite a few stations around Cornwall are unmanned so what can they do about that?

"Other stations around the country have pimple pavements at the edge of the platform, so why can't they do that?"

Wessex Trains have sent Mr Halliwell an incident form but he hopes by raising awareness of the problem he can prevent it happening again. "The next time it could be a little kid who falls down there," he said.

Wessex Trains spokesman Richard Gibson apologised to Mr Halliwell but said any installation of a pimple platform at Truro would be the responsibility of Network Rail who leased the company the station.

"It would involve a substantial rebuilding of the station infrastructure," he said. "It is correct that some of our trains are marginally narrower than the inter-city services. Our station officer for Cornwall has spoken to Mr Halliwell to assess the circumstances and we have received an accident report from him.

"An investigation is ongoing with our safety department. Every case has to be assessed on its own merits. We offer our sincere apologies to Mr Halliwell and we will look closely at the reasons for the accident and to see if any remedial action is required."

A spokesman for Network Rail said the company had no future plans for any alterations at Truro railway station.