Wayne Parker

Said the following about Lydia Kozickyj:

“Lydia was stood at the front of the train station conducting a revenue operation. Lydia observed a male acting in a furtive manner, he was walking up and down at the front of the station looking towards her direction. Lydia was conducting a manual ticket check due to the gate line being down. Several minutes later the male approached the gate line, he tried to walk past Lydia without showing in a ticket. Lydia stopped the male and asked to see his ticket, the male replied `I haven't got one and I don't need to show one, I'm not bothering about a ticket I'm going upstairs and go on the train track and you're not stopping me.` The male was carrying two large bags. The male kept repeating you're not going stop me you're not going stop me and he was swearing and seemed very very upset. The male pushed past Lydia and started to walk at pace up the stairs towards platform one which was the London bound platform. Lydia run up the opposite side of the staircase to try and overtake the male and met him at the top of the staircase. The male tried walking past Lydia. The male said, ` don't stop me I'm going, I'm going to get on the tracks I'm going get on the tracks.` Lydia still stood in front of the male and tried to converse with him and obviously stop him from heading towards the tracks. Whilst trying to deal with the male Lydia managed to flag down a member of staff and ask for a line block. Lydia was still talking to the male, and he was still adamant he wanted to throw himself in front of a train. Two or three minutes later Lydia was informed by a colleague that there was a line block.

Lydia still stood in front of the male on tried her upmost to speak and to converse with the male whilst still standing in front of the male. Lydia was stood with the male for 20 minutes talking to him, trying to understand, trying to empathise with him and then through sheer perseverance managed to convince him to leave the platform and exit to the front of the station where she sat with him on a bench waiting for a BTP to arrive. The male explained to Lydia that he had all his belongings and had taken £35,000 in cash out of the bank so he could leave for his family, the male also told Lydia that he had terminal cancer and at the NHS had stopped providing any further on care as there was nothing else they could do. Lydia kept conversing with the male and kept trying to talk about other things. Trying to keep his mind occupied and to focus on a general topic. After about 30 minutes the male began to slowly calm down and discussed general topics with Lydia each, like each other’s family, what they liked, favourite food etc. This whole incident lasted for around 2 hours before the police arrived. The male knew the police are on the way but when they did arrive the male thanked Lydia for spending that time on the effort talking to him and stood up and gave her a hug. The male was then taken off by the police where they provided further support for him.

Lydia actions and intuition in this intervention potential stopped a series or life-threatening situation from happening. Lydia had recognized the signs that the passenger was not displaying normal body language. Lydia placed herself into a potentially risky situation to save the male from jumping onto the tracks. Lydia was very conscious she could not leave the male alone. Lydia is an amazing person and is great with our passengers. Lydia showed compassion, empathy, and support.

Lydia used open questions as this helps them talk and express. The impact of saving the male’s life had a huge knock on buy not delaying trains across the network, and impacting on our customers

This was a great intervention.

OFFICIAL

Hello Wayne,

I have been advised to contact you in relation to the below. Apologises this has taken so long.

I would just like to make you aware of the fantastic work completed by Lydia. Her quick thinking, polite manner and calming approach helped to de-escalate a potentially dangerous situation.

The below is a summary of the incident which I feel outlines everything that was done and how valued her efforts were.

Please pass on my thanks to Lydia. I would hate for her good work to go un-noticed.

Kind Regards

Lawson

T/PS 4375 JONES

British Transport Police,“