A 43-year-old man has issued a public apology after drunkenly falling onto a railway line at a station - halting trains and prompting a rapid response from emergency services.

The man, whose identity remains unknown, fell off a platform at Wandsworth Common rail station shortly before 8pm on Monday, July 25.

It was initially feared the incident may have been a suicide attempt but - in response to a report published by the Wandsworth Guardian on Tuesday - the man, who was treated for minor injuries in hospital, posted a message on this website admitting his accidental drunken blunder.

Using the username psbcustard , sm5, he wrote: "For starters the train didn't hit me. I think. If it had I would be dead.

"Secondly, I apologise to anyone who was late home due to my drunken spill onto the track."

However, one reader was not prepared to forgive his drunken antics.

IRISH_CRAIG posted a reply which read: "I walked onto the platform last night at Wandsworth Common. I turned to see a train coming and saw a man stumbling, disoriented from being uncontrollably drunk or under the influence of some very heavy medication of sorts.

"In a split second, I saw this man fall backwards onto the tracks and directly under a train that didn't have time to stop or brake in any way. I shook for a brief time and had to walk away from the scene as I was horrified.

"I thought that I was going to have the image of death imprinted in my mind forever. Now I learn, the man in question was yourself, an adult. You have no idea of the inconvenience and trouble you have landed on innocent people going about their day."

psbcustard , sm5 immediately hit back, writing: "Do you think I did it on purpose? No. It's my first time to be arrested and I'm not proud of it."

A spokeswoman for British Transport Police confirmed the 43-year-old had been arrested for "endangering the railway" as soon as he had been given the all-clear by hospital staff. She added he was slapped with an £80 penalty fine for being drunk and disorderly - but that no further action was being taken.

The train involved was the 19.45 London Victoria to Tattenham Corner service. Passengers in the train were stranded at the station for about 40 minutes before the line was handed back to Network Rail at 8.35pm.