Kimberley Carter

Said the following about Leslie Smitham:

“I was on duty at Penzance box on Monday 15th August when I heard 1v58 blowing its horn on approach to the station around 2102 hours, I looked out of the box window to see a young woman stood in front of the train which was now stationary on the track. I put on my high vis and ran up the track to talk to the woman,I asked her what she was doing and she replied that she wanted to step in front of a train . I had recently learnt about suicide intervention at my last safety brief and remembered being told about exchanging names with the person.

I politely asked her name and she replied “Lily” I said that I was Les and worked up the box, I explained that we were not in the best of places to talk and would she like to come up the box for a cuppa and a chat. She agreed and I escorted her to the box, on passing 1v58 I indicated to the driver to ring the police and he nodded, I didn’t want to upset her further by ringing from the box while she was there, She declined the cuppa and opted for a glass of water, I chatted for about 10 minutes with her about anything I could think of, she seemed interested in the box workings and was polite and educated but seemed sad, she talked about some of her family but did not want me to ring them .

The police arrived after about ten minutes,(2120) I introduced Lily to the officer and she was escorted from the box by him.“