The RailStaff Awards 2024

Kristofer McGee

Said the following about Paul and Carl and Kevin Lippeatt and Brunning and Blair- **HAS LEFT**:

“‘Team Darlington’ showed outstanding teamwork in December, rising to considerable challenges in a life or death situation.

9th December 2017 could have been another ordinary night as Darlington Station staff and the British Transport Police (BTP) were alerted that a potential ‘fare dodging’ member of the public would be removed from an Edinburgh-bound service at their station.

The male passenger was originally believed to be intoxicated until the team at Darlington carried him onto the platform. The team quickly realised the severity of the situation when no signs of life could be found and Paul Lippeatt and Carl Brunning from Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) as well as PC Dave Lofts from the BTP immediately began CPR using the station’s defibrillator.

An ambulance arrived within 10 minutes and attempts at resuscitation (aided by VTEC’s Kevin Blair and the ambulance service when Paul, Carl and Dave began to tire) continued for a further twenty minutes.

Over thirty minutes after the terrific trio of Paul, Carl and Dave had begun their CPR, a faint heartbeat was detected and the man was taken immediately to hospital.

Ambulance workers praised the immediate response of Darlington’s staff, citing that the man would not be alive if not for their teamwork providing CPR for over half an hour. One member of the public (@Elaine294) tweeted that “seeing the staff from Darlington working first hand to save this guy was incredible”.

During this stressful and highly upsetting scene, the teamwork of Brigid McElroy and Elaine Clapham ensured all train services continued without any disruption, using a privacy screen and rerouting services through another platform to prevent any distress to the public.

In our industry, it’s not every day that you can go to work thinking about what you’ll have for tea and come home after saving someone’s life. Trish Bromley, a Regional Customer Experience Manager for the North, praised the “fantastic team work under extremely challenging circumstances”. Paul, Carl and Kevin won our “Star of the Month” award in December a result of their heroic efforts to save a man’s life and Paul and Kevin even attended the Houses of Parliament recently to represent the company, discussing suicide prevention and lifesaving interventions.

However the staff at Darlington remain humble despite their fantastic achievement. “We were just doing our job,” said Carl, ever so modestly, whenever this outstanding teamwork is brought up.“