Preventing suicide ‘mentally draining’ for Hurstpierpoint railway worker

Matt Lenton, a neighbourhood and transport police officer from Hurstpierpoint, noticed a man sitting alone in a doorway of a closed shop at Hassocks railway station just after Christmas. Matt said: “It was cold and he was in his shorts and a shirt. He was sitting with his head in his hands so I asked ‘are you alright mate?’ And he said ‘no I’m not’.

“He started welling up and said I’m going to jump in front of a train on the track, and I said no you’re not! Not whilst I’m here, no way.”

Matt then took the man to a cafe and talked through what had led the man to the decision for three hours.

“It was mentally draining,” Matt said.

“I got a bit off my chest as well though to be honest. I think that helped him, I was trying to show him he’s not the only one who has issues.”

Once he was confident the man was not going to take his own life, Matt took the man to his daughter, giving him a number for the Samaritans and his personal number.

“I told him if he needs he can call me any time,” Matt added.

Since the incident, the man now has a grandchild.

Matt continued: “He called three or four months later to tell me he’s a granddad and he’s got a totally new outlook on life. I told him it’s a prime example, it takes these things for people to turn themselves around. He’s a nice bloke.”

Matt used to be a retained fireman, and is no stranger to saving lives.

“We’ve pulled people who are stuck in cars out of them. People ask what it feels like to save someone, but it’s just something you have to do sometimes,” Matt said.

But not wanting to be in the limelight, he had not even told his wife about saving the man in Hassocks.

“I didn’t tell anyone out of respect for him because he was in a bad place, and he pulled out of it,” Matt added.

Matt, on his day off and heading to the gym, had no obligation to approach the man he thought to be in distress.

“When I walked past I thought I would hate to think that if it was anyone I knew people would just ignore it. Treats others how you would like to be treated,” Matt said.Matt won Samaritans Lifesaver award at the National Rail Staff Awards and Outstanding Personal Contribution award at the National Rail Awards for his efforts.