The RailStaff Awards 2024

Nominations for Samaritans Lifesaver Award

Catherine Cooper

Said the following about Hugh Gallacher and Spencer Phillips:

“In 2017 there were 5,821 suicides registered in the UK, roughly 10 people in every 100,000.

We’d like to recognise and applaud two brave men who acted quickly and heroically during moments of crisis to save the lives of two total strangers. We’re tremendously proud of them; their stories are shared here in their own words.

Spencer Phillips, System Manager, Network Rail, says: “I was driving home from Tyne Yard, southbound on the A1, in early November 2017 when I noticed the traffic slowing down. I saw a girl underneath the bridge with her arms crossed across her chest. She was standing on the hard shoulder, close to the white line. She looked as if she wanted to walk across the motorway.

“I hit the brakes and pulled into the hard shoulder about 150 metres in front of her and phoned the police. At this point, she was crossing the white line, hesitatingly moving towards the traffic.

“I got out of the car and ran towards her. I was flapping my arms at the oncoming traffic, motioning it to slow down and cars were swerving to avoid her. Her back was to me and as I shouted to her, she turned around.

“I grabbed hold of her and pinned her arms to her side, pulling her back from the motorway. I held onto the barrier, so she couldn’t drag me onto the motorway. I phoned the police again and they arrived about 15 minutes later.

“She told me she’d been released from an institution a couple of miles away and was hell bent on taking her own life. The police took her away and they phoned me the next day. When she’d calmed down, she asked the police to pass on her thanks to me.”

Hugh Gallacher, Maintenance Technician, Network Rail, was working at the Tyne Yard High Output Operational Base on the morning of Saturday 9th December 2017.

Hugh says: “I was driving through the yard towards the exit where you can see the main line and I noticed a head of bright, bleached blonde hair – if she hadn’t had that colour hair, I wouldn’t have seen her. From where she was standing, I put two and two together and knew what she was going to do.

“I rang Alan Johnson, the Depot Supervisor, and told him to call the emergency services because I reckoned I’d need to spend my time speaking to her, not the emergency services.

“I jumped out of the van and by that time she was standing in the four foot, hysterical and crying, saying: ‘I can’t take it any more’. I managed to catch her attention and asked her to step off the track into the cess. I asked her if she would wait till I could get round closer to her and talk to her.

“Fortunately she waited for me while I ran round the outside of the gate, up the road and over the farmer’s field to get to her. When I reached her she had climbed up a bridge stanchion and round the barriers.

“I was talking to her all the time; she wouldn’t come down at first but then she started to listen. I helped her down because it’s quite steep. Then I sat with her until police came, which was only a couple of minutes later. I think she was quite intoxicated as I could smell alcohol. It seemed to me that she’d been up all night because of something that had happened. The whole incident lasted no more than 15 minutes. Anyone would have done the same in my position.”

Alan Johnson, Logistics Co-ordinator said: “Hugh managed to get to the girl and talk her out of the situation while I contacted the police. The quick-thinking action of Hugh definitely avoided a fatality and the associated stress that follows.”“