On August 28, after a woman in her 70s in a wheelchair fell from a train platform at the Southend Central station in Essex in the U.K., railway worker Alan Chittock and three onlookers rushed onto the tracks to pull her to safety. A train was only about a quarter of a mile away and due to arrive in five minutes.
The woman, who was with her carer, was taken to the hospital; she was not critically injured. But Chittock has been suspended from his position for being a good Samaritan because, according to the train operating company, C2C, Chittock failed to follow "safety procedures."
Why is a worker -- and one who had put in 30 years of service -- who rushed to save someone else be punished and face the loss of his job, hen he should rather be praised for doing the right thing?
To Whom It May Concern at C2C,
We, the undersigned, request that you remove the suspension of Alan Chittock from his job as a railway worker.
We believe that Mr. Chittock has been wrongly suspended after assisting a disabled and elderly woman on August 28, 2013.
According to news reports, after the woman, who is in her 70s and uses a wheelchair, fell from a train platform at the Southend Central station in Essex. Mr. Chittock and three onlookers rushed onto the tracks to pull her to safety. A train was only about a quarter of a mile away and due to arrive in five minutes.
Mr. Chittock has been suspended from his position for being a good Samaritan because, according to a statement from a C2C spokesman in the September 6 Mirror, Mr. Chittock failed to follow "safety procedures" which include not stepping onto the tracks without the permission of the signaller.
While we understand that protocol are in place to protect the safety of workers and others, we believe that, on August 28th, Mr. Chittock stepped into the tracks in order to assist a woman who was in danger and needed to be brought to safety. Indeed, Mr. Chittock compromised his own safety in order to help her.
We ask that you remove Mr. Chittock's suspension and reinstate him in his job for his selfless and heroic act.
Thank you very much.
