Recruitment
“On 22nd July, Paul O’Brien as a first responder was involved in an incident that has taken place on one of the platforms at Gatwick Airport. He attended an elderly lady in distress who injured her leg badly while getting on the train. After assessing a degree of the damage, he called for the paramedics and made sure that the quick transport to the hospital is organised as the wounded lady needed an urgent, surgical attention. After the paramedics arrived – the lady was taken by a helicopter to a hospital and attended a surgery. Due to Paul’s quick actions, ability to make decision on the spot, and necessary medical knowledge – the lady’s leg was saved.
However, the very next day local and national newspapers were publishing articles with false headlines like this one - ‘Woman loses part of leg after slipping between Gatwick Airport train and platform’ – the Mirror. As Paul had no idea about the truth – that he actually saved the passenger’s leg he was put under unimaginable amount of pressure that his actions were not enough, that perhaps he made a mistake or simply wasn’t good enough. A few days later he received kind words from the happy passenger as the lady was extremely grateful for Paul saving her leg.“
“I have known Paul since I joined Southern five years ago when I worked alongside him at Gatwick. Paul consistently puts his customers at the heart of everything he does. Paul being a first aider is always first on the scene and very confident at dealing with all kinds of incidents and accidents, so much so we named him Dr Paul for his life saving actions. Paul is a really proactive team leader and always supports his staff putting safety first at all times.
Working in such a busy station with so much going on it is easy for all of Paul's hard work to become lost in the day to day running of things but I would love Paul to be recognised for everything he does as he certainly goes the extra mile in Customer Service and Life Saving.“
“Two of us from Knutsford booking office attended the Railstaff awards at the Richo Arena. Myself and Roy Wilson had the most wonderful time. The evening was fantastic and what a huge surprise we won "team of the year". Brilliant!!”
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