Recruitment
“A female has come to the railway station with friends. She has a history with ongoing mental health issues and is on medication for this. That night she had been drinking alcohol and this had diluted the medications effects on the female. She is distressed and this is noticed by rail staff Rob MANN who is in South West trains uniform but has no personal protection.
MANN walks along the platform watching this group at which point the female decides that she wants to jump onto the tracks to harm herself. She runs towards the tracks where MANN puts himself between her and the tracks and restrains her. They are beyond the yellow safety line and close to the platform edge where they are struggling. MANN manages to get control of the female and moves her away from the platform edge and towards the stairwell on platform 4. A friend comes over and helps moving her away.
At this point PC HORDLE, (who is off duty going home after a 10 hours late shift in his civilian clothes,) arrives on the platform and starts talking to the female. MANN stands his ground between the female and the tracks as PC HORDLE talks to the group. The female then tries to bolt for the tracks again being grabbed by PC HORDLE, MANN and the friend. PC HORDLE gets lots of verbal abuse from the group due to him grabbing the female, but he is able to keep control and inform them he is a Police officer. A further struggle ensues and the friend lets her go and she heads towards the track again. She is very emotional and is grabbed and led away along the platform by PC HORDLE. As they walk along the platform the female begins struggling again and trying to get free. At this point they are joined by rail staff Mike CORCORAN, who helps take hold of the female and enables control to be gained. Both CORCORAN and PC HORDLE then managed to get the female into the waiting area where she was away from immediate danger. PC HORDLE was able to get a phone call in to get other officers across. During the wait both PC HORDLE and CORCORAN spent time talking to the female and trying to calm her down. Several officers arrived and deal with issues with the group whilst PS STOOK and PC NEWMAN help with the female.
CORCORAN is able to secure a more private room, the guard’s rest room, and helps maintain her calmness as PC HORDLE, PC NEWMAN and PS STOOK safely convey her to the room. CORCORAN stays for some time as he was a familiar face with the female, helping the officers trying to pacify her, before having to resume his duties.
In the guards room the female continues to struggle and try to hurt herself resulting physical restraint and eventually the application of handcuffs to stop her hurting herself. However the bigger part was the calm words, reassurance and care. PC HORDLE remained as a consistency with the female and talked calmly and considerately with her and her father when he arrived. In fact PC HORDLE stayed for some 2 ½ hours after he was off duty up to the point in which she was conveyed to the mental health unit.
Without the initial actions of MANN the female would undoubtedly have jumped onto the tracks. MANN used his previous mental health training to full effect to try and calm her as well as do the physical blocking. The further actions from PC HORDLE and then the assistance from CORCORAN prevented her further attempts to get to the tracks. PC HORDLE states that he has never had someone fight as hard as her to try and get to the tracks before. The further calm and considerate way that CORCORAN helped PC HORDLE deal with her in the waiting room was as instrumental to her safe detention as the physical attributes.
All 3 clearly went above and beyond their roles and showed exemplary professionalism in the face of some very challenging circumstances. They acted when numerous other passengers stood watching and some even laughing. They deserve recognition for their brave, compassionate and non-judgmental actions that saved someone from serious harm or death. The female’s father took to send an email to thank everyone involved for their kind treatment of his daughter.“
“I felt extremely honoured when i received an invite for the Rail Staff awards 2014. I really did not expect it so it was a very pleasant surprise and had no hesitation in accepting the invite to this prestigious event. My experience of the evening was amazing. We choose to get into the spirit of the evening and arrive in fancy dress which thankfully so did a lot of other people. The food was of fantastic quality and the little deserts were the best. The entertainment provided was thoroughly entertaining. The evening was expertly planned from beginning to end. It was a very humbling experience to watch the nominees and winners and listen to the reasons why they were there. I felt extremely proud to be part of the railway family.”
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