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The incredible moment a drunk man cheats death after falling between a train and the platform edge has been caught on CCTV.

As he staggered along the side of an arriving carriage at Manchester Piccadilly Station, the man is filmed losing his balance and sliding through the gap and out of sight.

Miraculously, he was later helped back onto the platform by station staff and was not badly hurt.

The video was released by Network Rail as part of their new Lend A Helping Hand campaign, reports Manchester Evening News.

In the last five years, 18 people have died and almost 7,000 more have been injured during falls from the platform, or while boarding and getting off trains in the UK.

Network Rail are working in partnership with the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and hope their latest initiative will cut the number of accidents in 2015.

Neal Lawson, director of operations and maintenance services at Network Rail, said: “The network is made up of 2,500 stations, all with different layouts, built at all different times over the past 180 years, with different types and designs of trains and different and changing passenger needs.

(Image: MEN)

"This means there is no one magic bullet solution to improving platform safety but our challenge is to find ways to make it better for passengers.

“Everybody has heard the phrase ‘Mind the Gap’.

"We’re minding that gap every day, looking at how we can make that gap as safe as possible for the millions that rely on a safe and punctual train service.”

The CCTV footage from Manchester Piccadilly was first revealed in 2013, but the rail authorities have still not identified the reveller.