Injured woman aided by first class postman

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/ ... s-postman/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A QUICK-THINKING postman has been praised for coming to the aid of a woman who had fallen down stairs and had been lying injured for four hours in her Prestonpans home.

Good Samaritan Chris Hanratty, 28, was delivering mail to an address on West Loan at about 1pm last Tuesday when he heard a woman calling for help.

He told the Courier: "I'd walked up the path and put the mail through the letterbox. As I walked away I heard a knocking noise. At first I thought it was kids messing about but then I opened the letterbox and heard a woman shouting for help.

"I looked through the letterbox and I couldn't see anything, but I could hear her. She lived on the upper floor (with the stairs leading down to her front door) and she had taken a tumble down the stairs. She couldn't remember what had happened.

"She told me that she couldn't stand up and that her left arm was really sore. I couldn't force the door open because she was lying right at the back of it.

"She said that she thought she had been lying there for about four hours."

The former Preston Lodge High School pupil, who lives in the town and has worked for Royal Mail for six years, immediately called for an ambulance and waited at the address for the emergency services to arrive.

Chris, who is based at the Prestonpans Sorting Office on Ayres Wynd, added: "I was there for about 15 minutes before the emergency services arrived.

"I stayed and talked to her through the letterbox, and was just trying to keep her calm. I asked her if there was anyone I could call but she said that the only family she had was her mother, who was elderly and living in Musselburgh."

Police were called by the Scottish Ambulance Service to assist paramedics with entering the property and officers were first on the scene at about 1.15pm, at which point Chris left and continued on his route.

An ambulance arrived at the property at about 1.45pm and the woman, named locally as Irene Gordon and believed to be in her mid-50s, was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary suffering from a suspected dislocated shoulder.

Jennifer Bird, Royal Mail Group's external relations manager, said: "Royal Mail can confirm that a postman did go to the assistance of a customer who had fallen down the stairs and his actions demonstrate exactly why our postmen and women are such highly valued members of their local communities.

"Our people make daily deliveries to all 29 million addresses in the UK, and this makes them more visible on the streets than policemen, and they are often first at the scene in cases of fire, road accidents, and robbery, and instinctively get involved."

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "Chris should be very proud of what he did. He showed a real caring attitude to wait with the patient and comfort her."

Attempts to contact Ms Gordon at her home were unsuccessful.

[Wessex]

[parcelboy]

Did a similar act of sorts got dismissed for GROSS MISCONDUCT WILFUL DELAY it would appear i had a more understanding manager

[R@YAL F@IL]

Well Done