A suicidal woman, who was talked down from a ledge over the railway lines at Wimbledon station, had to crawl to safety while being brought down by firefighters.

Yesterday, at about 3.15pm, trains travelling between Waterloo and Wimbledon were halted after a member of staff raised the alarm.

Firefighters from Wimbledon fire station, who brought the woman to safety using specialist rope line equipment, said the woman had accessed the ledge via a building next to the station.

A spokesman said: “We set up a safety system using our line equipment and we bridged the gap with a ladder to where the casualty was.

“She had jumped across the gap on the walkway, which was about eight to 10 feet wide.

“We estimated it would have been a 30-foot drop down to the railway line.”

After police negotiators talked the woman off the ledge, she had to crawl to safety across the ladder, accompanied by firefighters, who safely led her down to street level.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “We were called just before 3.30pm to reports of a woman on a ledge at Wimbledon station.

“The woman agreed to come down at 4.50pm.

“She was in her mid-to-late-20s and was taken to a south London hospital where she was being medically assessed.”

All train services through Wimbledon had been stopped for just over an hour until the incident was resolved at 4.20pm.

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