Driver jumps into canal to save woman

THE driver of a bus leapt into a canal to save a suicidal woman before climbing back aboard to finish his route.

Bob Uzzell, 61, had a “gut feeling” something wasn’t right when he saw the young woman during the morning trip through Stroud, Glos.

Despite his bus being filled with passengers, Mr Uzzell stopped and ran to help, before returning to his bus.

Mr Uzzell said: “I was just doing what any other person would do.

“I am nearly 62 and I suffer a bit with arthritis and I didn’t think I could run any more but the adrenalin got me going quickly. I was really shifting.”

Members of the public alerted the emergency services and the police and an ambulance arrived quickly at the scene.

He added: “I just walked back up to the bus and started back on my route. I got around the next corner and stopped to pick up a passenger and she said ‘you’re late’.”

Rupert Cox, managing director of Stagecoach West, added: “We’re so proud of Bob and his actions.”

Police confirmed officers were called and the woman was taken to hospital.

Bob Uzzell, aged 61, a bus driver from Stroud, Gloucestershire, said: “I was just doing what any other person would do.” He was being modest, for he did not hesitate to go to the aid of a woman he saw floundering in a canal on a freezing day. This meant stopping his bus, putting on the hazard lights and leaving his passengers while he helped bring the unfortunate woman to shore. Most people would not, it is sad to say, have done that, but would have passed by on their business. Having accomplished his selfless deed, he returned, soaking wet, to his driver’s seat and drove off on his route, only to be told by the next passenger for whom he stopped that the bus was late. We need fewer police, firefighters or public officials who hesitate to help, for fear of risk, and more Bob Uzzells.