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Paramedic shields injured man on railway tracks

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Lockwood

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Just saw this

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/heroic-paramedic-shielded-injured-man-11096287

A heroic paramedic who shielded and treated an injured man on railway tracks as a freight train rumbled past has insisted he was just doing his duty.

Steven Magee, who works at the Welsh Ambulance Service station in Barry, jumped onto the tracks to treat the casualty as a huge freight train travelled through Eastbrook Station in Dinas Powys.

The 37-year-old made sure the distressed man was out of harm’s way before using a discarded piece of perspex to shield the pair from debris until the train left the platform.

The dad of one said: “It didn’t really bother me at the time. My main concern was to make sure the chap was okay.

"I was just doing my job.”

A passenger dialled 999 when they witnessed the man fall off the platform and hit his head on the metal tracks.

“The train that was coming into the station was taking coal to Aberthaw Power Station, and it doesn’t stop in Dinas Powys, so it often builds up quite a bit of momentum,” Steven said.

“The train managed to slam its brakes on and slid to a stop but the people on the station didn’t know whether the man was under the train or had moved away in time.”

Unsure of the man’s injuries, Penarth resident Steven climbed between the freight wagons and found the man unharmed in a small recess area underneath the platform.

“Luckily he’d managed to roll off the track,” he said.

“When I got to him I comforted him as he was clearly a bit confused.

“The poor train driver didn’t know what state the man was in.

“The train then slowly started to move away – and made a hell of a racket.

“The man was trying to grab the wheels so I held him back, and I used a bit of perspex to shield him from all the debris and foreign objects.”

Steven received a Certificate of Commendation for his actions by British Transport Police at a special award ceremony.

“It was fantastic to be a part of their award ceremony,” he added.

“I don’t think I took an unnecessary risk by going onto the tracks. I was working closely with British Transport Police – it was a great example of partnership working.”

I'm curious as to what the sequence of events here was, allowing room for the media's knowledge of how trains work (ie "swerving")

As I'm reading it, the sequence seems to be
Man falls off platform.
999 call made.
Train stops.
Paramedic goes trackside to assess man
Train moves off while patient and paramedic still on or near the line

That seems an odd sequence - the movement at the last step seems odd, so I'm sure there's something different that would have happened than the paper reported?


Before anyone says it, I'm not railway-bashing or NHS-bashing or anything-bashing. I'm just intrigued by this as reported.
 
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SPADTrap

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It is indeed odd. The last thing I'd do is move my train after that. Wonder what actually happened.
 

Lockwood

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All I'm thinking is that they didn't know the paramedic went down, but if they "slammed on the brakes" at the station, either they saw something on the track/saw people flagging them to stop/saw emergency services at the platform edge/got told by the signaller to stop then they would have been aware that there was an incident so been more alert to that risk?
I suppose if they did get out on the platform and check, and the people were entirely hidden from view? But surely someone would have tried to indicate to the driver "NOOO!!!"

With the talk of BTP saying stuff, were they there when the guy went down? Wouldn't someone have said to the driver what was happening?

This story is the gift that keeps on giving questions
 

scotraildriver

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Indeed. No train driver would move off whilst the man was in any position to grab the wheels. An absolute load of rubbish as reported. Whatever happened I bet was nothing like that!
 

GatwickDepress

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From the location of the injured party, it sounds like the goods train may have been moved on in order for the emergency services to safely move the individual? There's certainly a lot more to this event than the newspaper report states.
 

furnessvale

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It sounds to me that, with the knowledge of all concerned, the train was moved out of the way so the injured man could be recovered from behind it. Perhaps he was recessed under the platform overhang.

Of course the press will want to make things appear as dramatic as possible.
 

SPADTrap

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It sounds to me that, with the knowledge of all concerned, the train was moved out of the way so the injured man could be recovered from behind it. Perhaps he was recessed under the platform overhang.

Of course the press will want to make things appear as dramatic as possible.

Severely doubt it.
 

SPADTrap

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Fair enough. The alternative would appear to be that the train moved off WITHOUT the knowledge and agreement of all concerned.

Yeah that does sound very strange if that is what happened. I hope it's not the case.
 

alexl92

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Based on what people have said here it sounds as it the train would have had to move in order to allow the man to be moved? If the guy was in the recess between the platform and the track there's no way there'd be enough room to lift him out properly?
 

455driver

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Based on what people have said here it sounds as it the train would have had to move in order to allow the man to be moved? If the guy was in the recess between the platform and the track there's no way there'd be enough room to lift him out properly?

How did the paramedic get down then?
 
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Peter Mugridge

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The report does make it clear that the victim was indeed between the platform and the train and indicates that the paramedic reached him by climbing between two wagons:

climbed between the freight wagons and found the man unharmed in a small recess area underneath the platform.
 

furnessvale

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How did the paramedic get down then?

It reads like the paramedic squeezed into the gap. Very different getting an injured person out of the same gap, especially if there was any suspicion of back or neck injury.
 

GB

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Its a poorly written article.

One paragraph says the medic "jumped onto the tracks to treat the casualty as a huge freight train travelled through..." while another paragraph says he "climbed between the freight wagons...".
 

BestWestern

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I'd suggest that perhaps the train Driver had no idea that anybody was on the track, had stopped for some other reason (signal?) and moved off quite normally.
 

Ediswan

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The way I read it, everybody, expect possibly the casualty, knew exactly what was going on by the time the train moved and this was the "least worst" option. Note the "discarded piece of perspex" which was big enough to use as a shield. Which is more likely - that just happened to be lying beside the track in the right place, or it was found about the station and handed down from the platform ?
 
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