Rail worker hailed as hero for preventing the suicide of 15-year-old boy
A YOUNG Thameslink employee has been hailed as a hero after helping to prevent the suicide of a 15-year-old boy at the station where he works.
Sigi Gordon, 19, a member of The Ark Liberal congregation in Northwood, had noticed him standing close to the edge of the platform, staring “emptily” at the track.
Aware a train was due imminently, he blew his whistle to alert the boy, who didn’t respond.
“At first, I thought maybe he had headphones in or was just in his own world. I blew it again and shouted at him to get back but I got nothing. There was something about how he was standing and how close it was that didn’t sit right.”
Mr Gordon was able to attract the attention of another member of staff closer to the boy to ask him to move back behind the yellow safety line, which he did. The train arrived shortly afterwards.
“I watched the doors open and the boy just stood there, sort of staring down between the platform and the train. He didn’t get on the train. That is when something in my gut said: ‘This isn’t right’.
Mr Gordon approached him and asked if he was OK. The boy replied ‘no’.
“I knew I needed to get him to a place of safety so I said ‘let’s go to my office. We can have a chat’. And he agreed.”
He let another staff member know what was happening to ensure trains would not be able to move.
“We just sat down and had a talk while
I knew I needed to get him to a place of safety — my office’
we waited for the British Transport Police to take him to safety.”
Mr Gordon said the boy told him he had meant to alight at an earlier stop, “where the trains travel much faster into the station. So in a way it was good that he ended up where he did.”
He had also confided that he was “having trouble at school because of Covid [measures] and there was a lot of pressure on him. He was having family issues as well and it was all getting a bit much.
“I told him I understand and that I had been through all the school stuff and assured him it does get better and it will be OK. He said he wanted to work on the railways like me one day and we talked about that. I told him it was possible for him if he wanted it.
“I’m just glad I could be there for him at that moment. I hope he is OK now and has gone on to get the help he needs.”
It was only after the boy had been taken to safety by the transport police that he appreciated the enormity of what he had done.
“I was all over the place afterwards,” he told the JC.
“My work were great. They told me I could go home and rest but if I went home I think my mind would have spiralled. It was better for me to stay at work so I just worked in the office and not on the platform for the rest of the day.”
Laura Campbell, Govia Thameslink’s suicide prevention manager, said that with the pandemic having been “incredibly tough on people’s mental health”, it was important to equip staff with the tools to help those in need.
“Sometimes all it takes to break someone’s suicidal thoughts is a simple question. By educating our partners on simple steps to identify and help someone who may be vulnerable, we can work together to save lives — because one life lost is one too many.”
Mr Gordon lives in Harrow and was a Moriah Jewish Day School pupil. He shared his experience to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.
‘I’m just glad I could be there for him. I hope he has got the help he needs’