A DEAD dog lay on the railway tracks near Petts Wood station for four days, as Network Rail ignored a devastated family's pleas to retrieve her.

Five-year-old Mya, an English and Staffordshire bull terrier cross, had wandered onto the tracks on Sunday August 18 after escaping from a nearby back garden.

She was struck by the 3.30pm train to Orpington, and killed.

Owner Misha Bellenie, 24, of Shoreham Way, said: "Mya was escaped from my uncle's garden in Amherst Drive in Orpington.

"She walked on to platform one in Petts Wood station and then down on to the track.

"Two people tried to stop her.

"A man actually got on the tracks to go and rescue her and he nearly got hit by a train.

"When we realised she was missing we reported it to Battersea Dogs Home.

"It was them who told us they'd received reports of her on the railway."

News Shopper:

Kirsty Brown: "I am very annoyed, as annoyed as you can get."

Ms Bellenie's sister, Kirsty Brown, 22, also of Shoreham Way, said: "We called the Network Rail emergency helpline.

"They said they would send someone down to get her but they didn't.

"I kept asking them but that was all I got for three days.

"Finally on Wednesday I told them if they didn't I would go down on the track and get her myself.

"It was only after I threatened to do this that they did anything.

"Within an hour and a half they had got her off the track, which shows they could have easily done it before."

She added: "They were rude and they didn't do anything.

"My dog was on the track for all that time and they didn't care.

"They didn't do their jobs and I almost had to do their jobs for them.

"I am very annoyed, as annoyed as you can get."

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "It's always sad when someone loses a pet and if dogs are struck by trains we try to remove the remains as quickly as we can and if possible reunite them with their owners.

"The railway is extremely busy and we need to be sure that our people can safely access the tracks to rescue any pets that have been struck and we can’t delay or cancel trains which would inconvenience thousands of people to do this."