Recruitment
“Great Western Railway (GWR) is one of the biggest rail franchises in the UK, part of the First Group of companies, operating the Western network since 1996, rebranding ourselves as GWR in 2015. We employ over 6000 people across our network and we carry more than one and a half million customers over two million single journeys on 10,000 services every week. People are at the heart of our business and our ethos is that we are 'greater together'.
Sarah-Louise was travelling along one of our outer stations and stopped at Nailsea and Blackwell. Whilst walking on the station she noticed a gentleman walking along the car park stairway looking glum, talking to himself, in tears, heading to one of the platforms. She stopped the gentleman and asked if he was ok and proceeded to talk to him for a long length of time in a nearby bus shelter.
It was a very cold morning where it was pouring with rain. Talking to the gentleman calmed him down and he mentioned to Sarah-Louise that he was homeless and had been without shelter for some time and considered ending his life. Sarah-Louise rang a number of homeless shelters on their out of hours emergency numbers, one of which advised her to take the gentleman to a local police station.
Uneasy with leaving it to chance, she convinced the gentleman to travel with her to Bristol Temple Meads with the reassurance that she would help him. She bought him some food and drink whilst travelling on board, discreetly informing the ticket examiner.
Once at the station, she bought him a hot drink before taking him to the British Transport Police hub. She explained all to the officer who took over and arranged shelter for the individual who was extremely grateful for her support.
Sarah prevented a possible fatal incident and whilst supporting an individual in need, prevented something potentially disastrous from happening that would have caused distress and disruption in the area.
What’s more poignant is that this was during one of Sarah-Louise’s first weeks in role, having come from a previous role external to the railway. She also did not mention the incident to anyone, it was discussed in passing during a lunch break. We’ve since reviewed the incident and the company’s procedure in calling control etc as well as arranging for Samaritans training but her instinct to aid a vulnerable individual to prevent harm is highly commendable and more than worthy of recognition.“
“Our congratulations to you and the team for such a triumph! Everything was spot on - from the decoration of the tables, to the food, the entertainment and the band. Well done, you should be very proud (and exhausted too no doubt!)”
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