Maria Stavez

Said the following about Jake Harwood & Duane Fryer:

“I would like to nominate these two outstanding individuals for their quick response when facing a very daunting and challenging situation in the height of a very busy summer at Blackpool North station this July. Jake Harwood was carrying out his T.P.O duties, where he spotted a suspicious package on the track. Jake promptly took the initiative and reported this to his T.P.O team leader Duane Fryer.

Duane then contacted the Station Supervisor immediately where the HOT and WHAT protocols were carried out. During this time a sidings train was arriving at the approach on the same platform as the suspicious package. Duane assisted the Supervisor, while they were in contact with the Signaller and Control. Duane was very proactive and confidently carried out the emergency hand signal stop on top of the platform for the driver to stop the the train. Both Jake and Duane remained calm and cool under pressure at all times during this difficult situation. Both Jake and Duane took a very much hands on flexible approach and provided fantastic valuable help to station staff. Both provided staff with important up to date communication of current status of platforms during the challenging time of a full station evacuation.

Once, the station was fully evacuated both Jake and Duane took the action of assisting and helping out customers with queries and provided water to all during this hot summer day. Jake, kindly offered to assist station staff and supported one of the gateline team to help and deal with many customer queries, Jake constantly was communicating with our customers providing them with vital information regarding transport and confidently controlled the queue of customers who were waiting at the bus pick up point. Jake's multi tasking skills mixed together with his excellent customer service was a joy to see - outstanding work from Jake! All staff benefited from the amazing support that Jake gave to each and everyone. Jake went above and beyond his role and helped everyone during these exceptional circumstances.

Duane also provided remarkable support to station staff while customers and staff were at designated cordoned off areas. Duane confidently took prompt action and supported staff to cordon off areas. Duane remained positive throughout and ensured together with station staff that there was no station access. Again, like Jake, Duane multi tasked throughout helping out with customer queries and provided local knowledge - customers really appreciated this. Whenever, there was new updated information no matter how little information was given Duane immediately approached customers and ensured they received it asap.

Extraordinary teamwork from Jake and Duane your positive support and efforts on this day were truly invaluable - thank you!“