Wayne Parker

Said the following about Dale Lowe:

“A BTM security guard walked pass platform 3 today on observed a male acting suspicious. The security guard approached Dale Lowe BTM RPI. Dale approached the male who was 19 years old.

Dale could see the male was very upset and angry. The said he had had enough and was going to kill himself. Dale said the male was in a lot of distress and seemed mentally unstable. Dale felt the male was serious and wanted to end his life. Dale has attended the suicide awareness training and Dale’s previous jobs was as a Prison Officer looking after young offenders and then working as P.E teacher at a young offender’s school.

Dale spent some time talking/listening to the male and managed to move him away from the platform into an office on Platform 3. The male said he had been held at knife point to transport drugs. He had clearly been beat up and he was told he would be killed if he did not transport the drugs. The previous day the male’s mum was also forced to take £4k from her bank account and give it the people who had forced him to take the drugs.

The male had travelled from Cornwall and was on his way to Wales to drop the drugs off. Dale said there was enough Cannabis to fill a large carrier bag, there was also a knife and various other drugs spread among 3 bags. The male said he had been doing this since he was 12 years old, and just believed there was no other way but to end his life. The male had text his mum goodbye and had switched his mobile phone off. Dale said the male kept switching from being angry to being very upset. Dale listened and let the male unload his feelings and frustrations. Dale said he was with him for over 40 minutes before he was able to convince the male to talk to BTP.

BTP attended and BTP asked Dale to accompany the male as he built a relationship with him. The male was later arrested as he was wanted on warrant as well of having a large amount of drugs in his possession.

I feel Dale’s actions saved this males life. He demonstrated key actions from the suicide awareness course and his previous work experiences gave him the skills to deal with a situation like this. Dale demonstrated many of GWR’s key values today. A real asset to the revenue team and GWR

Dale has only been with GWR for just under 3 years. Already he has demonstrated what a proficient RPI he is. Speaking to Dale today (11.1.21) we spoke about his shift over the weekend. Dale informed me he assisted a guard who was being threatening by a drunk passenger. Dale had to move the guard away from the situation, then Dale was able to calm the male down, which resulted in no physical assaults or train delays.

Dale also dealt with an 18-year male who was travelling on a child ticket. Dale never reported the male for prosecution but contacted his parents and left a voice message. The male’s mum called Dale and thanked him for the way he dealt with the situation. It transpired the male had mental health issues and he was not fully aware of what he had done. These types of actions and incidents have an impact on our colleagues as the see that Revenue incidents can be dealt with a GEMS approach. Actions like this which happen on board trains and at stations impact on our Customers and Stakeholders experiences when travelling with us. Customers and Stakeholders witness the professionalism a colleague has when faced during these challenging incidents“