Marathon man Paul running to save lives
After losing friends and colleagues to suicide, Southeastern train driver PAUL SCOTT ran the 2022 London Marathon in support of Samaritans. TOM ALLETT reports
Paul Scott is driven by the pain of losing friends and colleagues, and the shock of suicides among his circle of friends has made him determined to do everything he can to prevent other lives being lost unnecessarily.
Originally from Newcastle, the 36-year-old Southeastern driver has “been down south about 14 years”. He was once “desperate to be an airline pilot” but was forced to give up the dream when the funding ran out.
He took a job as a car salesman, which he “hated”. But then one day he sold a car to a train driver and thought it sounded like a career he “could probably have a go at”.
After visiting several websites, he saw Southeastern was recruiting and put his name in the hat. And in 2016 he ‘got the call’ and began learning how to drive a train.
He has “no regrets” about his choice of career, but events that took place at the beginning of the pandemic would profoundly affect him.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, a close friend from the railway took his life. He was well known on YouTube for making funny announcements. Nobody could see it coming.
“Then, in December 2021, a really close friend of mine also took his life. Again, there were no signs. I also knew three colleagues from other companies who died by suicide.
“Before I joined the rail industry, I wasn’t aware of the scale of the problem. But [after those incidents] I knew I had to do something to help, to just get people talking and opening up, so people know they’re not alone.
“I wanted to encourage people - especially men - to talk about their problems. I wanted to understand why people can’t talk about issues that are affecting them. I have been in a position myself where I have thought ‘nobody wants to listen to my problems’.
“A problem can seem so big to you; so small to someone else. By someone just listening and offering advice, then pointing someone in the right direction, they can be helped by a team that could make the difference about how someone is feeling.”
With the help of his Southeastern colleagues, Paul arranges a charity football match. The aim was to get a group of men together to focus on mental health and get people talking again.
“It wasn’t a case of getting everyone on the pitch and saying ‘are you struggling?’ I just wanted to get people to talk about anything football, personal lives, whatever.
“The group grew to some 30-40 people, and it was just because we had started to see people - colleagues - take their own lives.
“Exercise and football help me with my mental health. And especially lately, when I have been running long distances down by the coast, it has made it so much easier. I just put a podcast on, and I don’t stop. It releases endorphins and positivity.”
Paul took his involvement to the next level, running the 2022 London Marathon in support of the Samaritans charity and its round-the-clock help service. Samaritans has run a specific railway industry suicide prevention programme in co-operation with Network Rail since 2010, so it was a ‘natural fit’ with what he wanted to achieve.
Paul has, in fact, completed five London Marathons, and as part of his training for 2022 he took on the challenge of running the entire length of the Southeastern route network - the routes on which he would normally drive trains.
It is still a ‘work in progress’, but he runs along the nearest roads to ‘his’ railway line, calling in at all the stations he would visit on a normal day’s duty. At each station, he takes time out to meet and chat to people - not just railway colleagues but the public as well – and (hopefully) empower them to talk about their mental health.
“When people ask me ‘why are you running for Samaritans?’ I say it is partly because of the work they do in the rail
I just want people to know if they are feeling low or having negative thoughts, there are people out there who you can approach and will talk to you.
industry, raising awareness.
“When I am driving trains, if I see someone who looks out of place on a platform, I will just pop my head out and say ‘are you OK?’ or ‘are you waiting for a certain train?’ because maybe they didn’t get on my train or if I’ve seen them there before. I just make small talk with them.
“I have never had any training on how to deal with a member of the public who might seem to look out of place. What I do is literally just what I have built up in my own time. So, if I’ve stopped at a station and everyone’s got onboard, and I’m ready to depart but there’s somebody stood at the end of the platform towards the signal, I’ll just put my head out of the window and make small talk, just to try and gauge their reaction. Then I can decide what I’m going to do from there.”
What does he hope to achieve with the ‘every station’ challenge?
“As much as I want to raise awareness of Samaritans, my main reason is to also meet people I would never meet on a day-to-day basis across the rail industry. Since I have started doing it, I have met some incredible people who are real community figures at their stations - supporting the local community.
“I will run the whole line and stop at every single station. If there are ticket office, platform or cleaning staff there, or members of the public, I will speak to them, making sure they are OK.
“I introduce myself and say I am doing a charity run, but then ask them general questions about their day, their job, and their life, just to open up a conversation, get people talking and provide that human connection.
“People have been so welcoming to the idea and asking to come on runs with me. The support from everyone is pushing me to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
“I think the stigma of mental health is getting worse for men and in our industry. I just want people to know if they are feeling low or having negative thoughts, there are people out there who you can approach and will talk to you.
“I am not a trained counsellor, but I can sit there and listen if someone wants to offload. I have started to ditch the phone and look around and notice if people do not look quite right or appear upset. It doesn’t have to be the end for people.”
In case you were wondering, Paul completed this year’s London Marathon in 4hrs 11mins. It was slightly outside his personal best, but a solid performance given that a leg injury stopped him from training for three weeks prior to the big day.
Rightly, Paul’s selfless efforts were highlighted at RAIL’s National Rail Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on October 12. But the challenge continues as he runs on… and on… and on… in the hope of helping others.