Paul Newsome

Said the following about Tobias Buck:

“I would like to nominate Tobias Buck for the Life Saver Award.

Tobias is platform staff at a train station in South London. One Sunday Tobias noticed a male aged approx. 60 years old standing very close to the edge of Platform 2. As Tobias approached the male the male asked "when is the next train?" Tobias had then asked the male where it is he is travelling to, at this point the male was not very compliant and after Tobias had read the male's negative body language he invited him into the platform office.

After a few minutes of speaking to the male Tobias found out that the male had recently had an argument with his wife and wanted to end his life. Tobias, being the upbeat person he is, put a smile back on this man's face by talking to him about his family and what makes him happy. After some deliberation Tobias was able to get the man's children's telephone number and advised them of the situation. Tobias then walked the male home to his family.

Whilst this was all going on Tobias had reacted very responsively by contacting our control centre and the BTP. The BTP then turned up got a statement from Tobias and did a welfare check on the gentleman at his home address.

On a normal shift Tobias is in charge of the upkeep of numerous stations, on his own merit Tobias decided to stay at his station for the remainder of his shift in case the male returned. I believe Tobias went above and beyond his duties as a platform member of staff reacting to this situation. Had it been another time of day or night the situation could have been a lot worse.

SouthEastern give a very big thank you to Tobias and cannot speak of him more highly to be nominated for this award.

Thank you,

Paul Newsome

SouthEastern Station Manager – Orpington Area“