An off-duty Metropolitan Police officer who courageously jumped onto train tracks to give first aid to a severely injured man has won a London Police Bravery Award.
On the morning of 4 May 2024, PC Dan Burdett was on his way to work from Prittlewell train station in Essex.
He noticed a stationary train further down the platform, and two men who looked agitated. He guessed that something was wrong, so he walked towards the men and saw a seriously injured man on the tracks – he realised he had been hit by the train.
PC Burdett recalled: “I shouted to the men, ‘Are you on the phone to emergency services?’. I told them to request heli-med and that I needed a first aid kit.
“I jumped down on the track and assessed the injured man. I could see his right leg had been taken off at the ankle by the train. He had a massive bleed on his head, and his leg was pumping blood, so my main thought was it was a critical bleed.
“I needed a tourniquet and I remembered from my training the kinds of things I could use. I had a quick look around and thought, ‘shoelaces’. So I took the shoelaces off his good foot.”
Luckily, there was a pen lying on the tracks, so PC Burdett fashioned a tourniquet out of the shoelace and the pen, which helped him tighten it around the man’s leg. Eventually he managed to get the bleeding to stop.
PC Burdett continued: “I could now concentrate on the bleed on his head and his breathing. He started to have issues with his breathing, so we got a mask from the station staff and just kept him going until we heard the sirens of the ambulance, around five minutes later.”
As well as tending to the victim, PC Burdett was shouting for the station staff to stop the train that was due to arrive in a few minutes’ time, concerned that it would hit him.
He said: “I didn’t know how the railway system worked. I was expecting my train to be hurtling towards me very shortly. I thought, I’ve now got potentially a couple of thousand tonnes of metal hurtling towards me, into a stationary train, potentially causing another critical incident. If the train was going to come, I can’t stay on the tracks, so I’m going to have to leave this poor bloke there and get out of the way.”
Luckily the train was diverted. When the ambulance arrived, PC Burdett directed the paramedics to pass him bandages and tough-cut scissors so that he could get another tourniquet on the man’s leg before they treated him. The paramedics came down on the tracks and tended to the man, while PC Burdett stayed with him and continued to help his breathing.
Meanwhile more police officers and the fire brigade arrived. The chief paramedic for Southend was so impressed with PC Burdett’s actions that he asked him if he was a paramedic himself.
The injured man was taken to hospital in an ambulance and was operated on, but sadly died two days later.
PC Burdett said: “I wanted to know that I’d done everything I possibly could with what I had at that time, to keep him alive. The paramedic said: ‘If you hadn’t done what you’d done, he’d have died there and then.’ So at least his family got to say goodbye to him before he died.”
PC Burdett, who has also received the bronze medal and Police Medal from the Royal Humane Society, said he was humbled to receive a London Police Bravery Award. He said: “I’m humbled that they thought my actions were good enough. I was just doing what I was trained to do, but it’s nice to be recognised for trying to save someone’s life.”
Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “This incident once again shows that police officers are never off duty. Dan’s quick actions and resourcefulness that morning were incredible, when he effectively managed the whole scene, all while putting his own safety at risk by climbing onto the train lines.
“It was a stressful and upsetting scene and Dan was a credit to the police service. Our thoughts remain with the family of the victim.”
PC Burdett will attend the inaugural 2025 London Police Bravery Awards on Thursday 3 April. At the event, three overall regional winners will be announced, who will attend the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.
The Gold sponsors of the London Police Bravery Awards are Metfriendly, Axon and Officer Insurance Cover, part of the Ardonagh Group.
Also sponsoring the awards are Silver sponsors Bluline and JMW Solicitors; and Bronze sponsors Slater and Gordon Lawyers, Police Mortgages, Accord, THB Solicitors, Blackfords LLP, the National Police Healthcare Scheme, Uniform Mortgages and Penningtons Manches Cooper.
