A businesswoman was pushed on to railway tracks at a packed station by two men yesterday after telling them to stop smoking. Only the prompt action of fellow commuters saved Linda Buchanan, 58, who was hauled to safety after landing close to a 750-volt live rail at Farningham Road station near Swanley, Kent.

Mrs Buchanan was pushed from the platform during the morning rush hour as she waited for a train to Central London, where she works as a senior consultant for the American-owned company DBM. As fellow commuters helped her back on to the platform, railway staff cut off power to the lines and halted trains that were due to arrive minutes later.

British Transport Police were looking for two men in their twenties, who were pursued by an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer but got away from the scene.

Mrs Buchanan was taken to the nearby Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, with a broken wrist and bruising to her legs, but was released later. It is understood that the two men regularly catch the same train to Victoria station as Mrs Buchanan.

On Monday and Tuesday mornings, when they were smoking on the platform, she reminded them that they were not allowed to and asked them to stop. Smoking is prohibited on all railway platforms in England under the ban introduced last April.

The men made obscene gestures as she walked past them shortly after 7am, a police source told The Times. “She turned round and told them to grow up, and they pushed her. She stumbled backwards and fell on to the track. We don’t think they meant to push her on there. They were as surprised as she was.”

Audrey Hescombe, who commutes from Farningham Road, said: “The platform was packed, as it always is at that time. I saw men smoking on the platform on Monday but didn’t say anything. The woman was braver than me and had simply asked them to put out their cigarettes.”

Another witness said: “A scuffle broke out and she was shoved on to the tracks, then a Metropolitan Police officer who was off duty but on his way to work chased the two but they ran off the platform via an exit and managed to escape.

“There were definitely broken bones but she was more in shock than anything. Once she was on the platform we couldn’t move her, she was in such a state.”

Mrs Buchanan, whose left wrist was heavily bandaged and in a sling, was visibly shaken and upset yesterday afternoon. Supported by Richard Teare, a friend who held her right hand as she spoke from her home in Horton Kirby, she said quietly: “I just feel I’m lucky to be alive. It could have been a lot worse than it is and I’m just shocked by the whole experience.”

Another neighbour who also sat with Mrs Buchanan for some time yesterday said: “She’s well but still very shaken – we all are.”

Mrs Buchanan, who moved out of London to Kent in 2004, has a registered company called Lin Buchanan Ltd. She is believed to have three children. Detective Inspector Bob Richardson said that she was “very lucky she was not more seriously injured. The third rail carries 750 volts of electricity and she could have been electrocuted or even struck by an early morning train.”

One of the men was described as being white, in his mid-twenties and about 6ft with a stocky build. He had short cropped brown hair, and was wearing beige shorts, a green round-necked T-shirt and trainers. The second male was white and of medium build, in his early twenties and wearing bright red shorts and a dark top.

Train services in the South East were disrupted during yesterday’s morning rush hour because the power to lines had to be turned off during the incident.

A spokesman for Southeastern Railway said: “We are appalled by this incident and hope that the perpetrators are quickly identified.”

Times Recommends

• Postmen: We bind the nation together
• Tewkesbury: when the memories flood back
• Cast Offs actress: I’m happy that my face fits