JOHN Scouler is back home for Christmas after surviving being hit by a train.

The 110mph InterCity 125 knocked him off his feet on the main line between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Mr Scouler, from Dudley, North Tyneside, was walking his dog over a footpath crossing the line when the train came round a blind bend and struck him.

Speaking yesterday, he said: "Everybody keeps calling me the luckiest man alive - but I don't count myself especially lucky to have been hit by a train. I've been walking over that section of track to a pal's farm for more than 40 years."

"I don't know which part of the train hit me. It must have just clipped me, but even that was enough to cause terrible damage. I didn't realise the extent of the damage. I walked 200 yards to a friend's house and said: 'Call an ambulance - I've been hit by a train'."

Mr Scouler had surgery to reconstruct his back in Newcastle General Hospital and spent 11 weeks at the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

He suffered severely-torn muscles, a chipped spine, had three skin-grafts and may never regain feeling in his back. He is housebound and is attached to a machine which helps continue the healing process.