Gabriella Nicholas

Said the following about St Pancras International station team:

“I would love to nominate Chirag Patel (Route Facilities Manager), Paul Chappell (Shift Station Supervisor), Alex Kerr (Shift Station Manager) and Nick Jones (Station Control Assistant) for saving the life of their colleague, Abrar Ahmed (Station Control Assistant), who suffered a heart attack while they were working on shift together at St Pancras International station on 15 November 2023.

Working on the front-line at one of the UK’s busiest transport hubs, St Pancras International station, our team unfortunately encouter passenger related medical incidents every single day. It is part and parcel of the job. However, when it is a member of your own team facing the medical emergency – the stakes are drastically different. The situation takes on a whole new level of gravity.

Chirag, Paul, Alex and Nick – demonstrated a remarkable amount of courage, strength and professionalism through their actions that day, which in turn, saved Abrar’s life. They are the definition of heroes and I hope through the award nomination below – they are given the recognition they truly deserve for their bravery.

While on shift, Abrar reported feeling severe chest pains and advised his fellow control room colleague - Nick, of this. Nick swiftly called an ambulance and made the on-duty Shift Station Manager, Alex, aware of this. The team arranged for Abrar to be transferred to the first aid room to look after him further where they had a defibrillator on standby and waited for the ambulance to arrive. The team escalated the call when they noticed that Abrar's symptoms had started to worsen.

A motorcycle paramedic attended following their call and diagnosed Abrar's symptoms as a heart attack. Shortly after, Abrar went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated by the paramedic with help from his colleagues, Paul and Chirag. Abrar was then taken to hospital under blue lights, accompanied by Chirag, with Alex needing to inform Abrar’s family of this news – no call any colleague should have to make.

Thankfully, later in the evening, following emergency heart surgery, the team received the news that they had all been praying to hear. Abrar was stable, awake, and resting in hospital. Chirag stayed by Abrar’s side at hospital until midnight, comforting his family when they arrived through the most terrible time – and even drove Abrar’s car home from work so that it was one less thing his family needed to worry about. Chriag continued to visit Abrar even once he was discharged from hospital, to ensure that his recovery was going well.

Through their actions – the team saved Abrar’s life. It's a completely different situation when you have to respond to a medical emergency and it's someone you know, and they handled it calmly, with care and true professionalism.

Abrar has since made a full recovery which the team are thrilled about, and he had this to say about his colleagues who saved his life:

“My life was saved by the great team work and quick action of my colleagues. I am very grateful to my colleagues and owe my life to them. I was told by the doctors that I had only a 6% chance to survive if my colleagues had not done what they did on that day. For me and my family, my colleagues truly are my heroes.”

By way of coincidence, Abrar was due to attend the RailStaff awards in November 2023 as he was nominated for a team award in the Station Staff category (which they won!) - unfortunately Abrar was unable to attend due to still recovering in hospital. It would be absolutely fantastic for Abrar's team to be recognised this year and I am absolutely certain he will be in attendance with them on the night if they are shortlisted, and enjoy the evening he should have enjoyed last year.“