Sally Ralston

Said the following about Fazakerley Station Team Station Retailers Fazakerley:

“The three-resident staff at Fazakerley station do a brilliant job with dealing with numerous welfare incidents throughout each year. Due to the hospital being close to the station it will always be the case that people will turn up at this location in distress. However, Paul, Tony and Yvonne deal with crisis situations in their stride, they do a fantastic job.

The team over the last 12 months has dealt with 10 Concerns for welfare and 2 Trespass incidents. These can be always from very early in the morning until very late at night. This is a high number of potentially serious situations. The team have dealt with all the incidents in a professional manner. This is a challenging part of their role and due to a hospital being close to station Is likely to continue meaning that the team will continually be vigilant. They work closely with our Security manager and feedback so that incidents are reduced and ultimately provide a safe environment for all our passengers.

The staff have been carrying out numerous interventions involving members of the public with mental health problems. The team have a genuine drive to ensure all our passengers are safe. To prevent a serious incident occurring, which could affect the individual, their families, other passengers, Staff and the local community. They also support each other as a team.

They have dealt with these issues by using their training; their sheer professionalism; keeping calm in a very stressful situation and supporting the individual until the help that they need arrives. This Team always remains vigilant. They continually monitor passenger behaviour whilst travelling through station. They feedback on any incidents that occur. They Include on handovers to ensure team aware. They have attended and supported different individuals going through difficult times in their lives. They have used their training, experience, and genuine concern to turn a potentially negative situation into an outcome that can lead to the individuals accessing the support they need, with a positive outlook. They use support functions Carlisle, BTP, Samaritans, Safety & Security ensuring their own safety comes first and the correct support is there for all. They have followed emergency procedures including isolations and liaising with Merseyrail control.

These ongoing interactions/interventions that the Fazakerley team carry out make a massive difference at the time, this ensures the individuals remain safe but is snapshot of what the individual is going through. The support the staff access from BTP means that the individuals access ongoing support and will assist them in finding a more positive outlook.

Our Security Manager, Lee Phillips states: This team are fantastic and the work they put in to keep people safe is inspiring. It is an extremely difficult situation to deal with and the staff do this in a professional manner with their own safety and the individual’s safety foremost in their minds. Whilst I understand there are other areas that also provide this same support this station has a higher number of concerns for welfares and trespass incidents and the staff remain vigilant to continually ensure passenger are safe. We are very proud of this team and privileged to observe the fantastic work they carry out to keep our customers safe.“