PCs honoured for saving life of woman hit by train

Four "heroic" police officers have been recognised with top bravery and life-saving honours after saving the life of a woman who had been hit by a train.

PCs Christopher Bell, Carl Holden, Tanveer Akhtar and Ben Hawley have received the awards from the Royal Humane Society (RHS) following the incident at Doncaster Railway Station last year.

The four officers were among those who responded to reports of a woman being critically injured after she was involved in a collision with a train on 12 August.

Andrew Chapman, secretary of the RHS, said: "Ignoring any danger to themselves, the four officers all went under the train and succeeded in their fight to save her."

According to South Yorkshire Police, PCs Bell, Holden, Akhtar and Hawley worked as a team to climb down onto the track with their first aid equipment, before PC Holden got underneath the train and applied tourniquets to the woman's legs.

The other three officers then joined him under the train to offer further first aid support to the woman, who also had a head injury.

Firefighters then arrived to pull the woman from under the train before she was taken to hospital.

Later, NHS surgeons who treated the woman contacted police to say that without the intervention of the four officers, her life "would have been lost".

The four officers have since been awarded Royal Humane Society Testimonials on Parchment for saving the woman's life.

Mr Chapman said: "Ignoring any danger to themselves the four officers all went under the train and succeeded in their fight to save her.

"If they had not acted as they did, it is very doubtful that she would have survived. They were true life-saving heroes and richly deserve the awards."

Doncaster District Commander Ch Supt Pete Thorp said: "These four officers showed incredible bravery and aptitude in a horrific and challenging situation to ultimately save this woman's life.

"The fundamental role of police officers is to protect and preserve life and that is exactly what they did, and I am so pleased they are being recognised by the Royal Humane Society for their efforts on that day."

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