A terrified mother struggled to free her baby's buggy when it became trapped in the doors of a train.

Sarah Standing panicked when the doors slid shut as she lifted baby Oliver on to a train at Haywards Heath station.

She was scared it would depart with her five-month-old son still hanging out of the door.

The automatic doors had closed unexpectedly after a platform guard failed to spot the passengers boarding.

Mrs Standing, of Broadfield, Crawley, said her son's hands would have been crushed if they had been outside the buggy. In the event, he was released unharmed.

She urged train operator Thameslink to look again at safety procedures on their services.

She said: "We were getting on the train and my husband and daughter got on first.

"I had the front wheels of the buggy on when there was a beeping noise and about two seconds later the doors shut on us. There was hardly any warning.

"I started panicking because I wasn't aware the train couldn't go if the doors were jammed. I just thought it was bye-bye buggy and bye-bye baby.

"My husband and I were trying to pull at the doors but they were wedged so tightly.

"I'm not sure how long it was before the doors opened - probably only seconds but it seemed like ages.

"Luckily Oliver was asleep the whole time - nothing fazes him. But if he had been awake with his hands outside the buggy, they would have been crushed."

The incident happened on the 18.57 service from Haywards Heath to Gatwick on July 31.

Train operator Thameslink has apologised to Mrs Standing for the incident.

A spokesman said drivers were responsible for the safe departure of trains at unstaffed stations but at stations such as Haywards Heath, where staff are present, responsibility lay with platform staff to give a signal to close the doors.

Connex, which ran the network, said they would investigate the complaint and if necessary issue platform staff with a firm reminder of their responsibilities.

A spokesman added: "Matters of this kind are taken very seriously and we will be carrying out our own investigation with the platform staff."