Recruitment
“"The MTR Community Ambassadors play a large role in helping customers navigate the network, as well as being running the many community events and charitable activities that the business is involved in.
In his role as a Community Ambassador, Richard Baker has gone above and beyond, what has been required of him – creating a beautiful passenger experience with the garden projects he has led; taking children on cab rides; sharing Christmas joy with the Santa train; and most importantly – saving lives.
Richard’s hard work saw MTR Elizabeth line receive an award for Best Mental Health Garden 2021 at West Ealing station. His work in making the garden a success involved scoping out the best place for a garden across the network, choosing what to plant, cost scoping, seeking community input from local disability groups, and continuing to maintain the garden.
Richard’s green fingers have also seen him install a heritage wall at Seven Kings, organised a Sensory Blind Garden at Harrow Lodge to promote health and wellbeing and regenerated a piece of derelict land at Harold Wood station into a wildflower meadow alongside local school and scout groups.
Reaching out to youth is an important part of Richard’s work; and post COVID, he has reintroduced train cab rides over summer, offering young neuro diverse rail enthusiasts and their families the opportunity to ride the Elizabeth line from a driver’s perspective.
Every December, Richard runs the Elizabeth line’s ‘Santa Express’ service, offering local school children the chance to ride on a Santa-themed train, as well as meet Santa himself. This has brought joy to over 1,000 school children.
But it is Richard’s work on rail safety that has seen him make the most impact. On top of his safety talks with local schools, Scouts and Beavers groups along the Elizabeth line, Richard has had 29 life interventions at Elizabeth line stations.
Richard’s ability to proactively identify vulnerable members of the community saw him present as a key speaker at the Suicide Prevention Conference in 2022 at Birmingham NEC. His life-saving work has seen him dubbed as MTR Elizabeth line’s ‘guardian angel’.
Regular passengers all know and respect Richard; and he is a true ally of the travelling public".“
“Richard has always shown professional attitude to what he does, he is enthusiastic and had hardworking individual he has recieved many lifesaver awards in the past“
“Richard truly has a heart of gold. He is kind, engaging and looks out for both customers and colleagues.
Richards caring and empathetic nature has seen him save the lives of 29 suicidal individuals. Richard often states that saving lives is part of the job. I often have to remind him that his life saving actions have provided a lifeline to people. Many have returned to thank Richard for his actions. This alone demonstrates the impact he has on these individuals.
Outside of the suicide prevention space, Richard works with vulnerable members of the community, by empowering them to become independent travellers across the rail network whilst battling isolation and loneliness.
Richard's dedication to the role is both remarkable and inspiring. A hero to many.“
“Thank you for Saturday night at the awards. My wife & I had a great time.”
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