‘I knew something was not right’: Quick-thinking Northern conductor praised for helping to save passenger who fell ill

Naheed Asif, 47, was working on a train travelling from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly in June when he realised a woman who had just boarded was not well and urgently needed help.

The conductor, who is trained in first aid, alerted the driver. He halted the train at Cheadle Hulme and the line was blocked while Mr Asif contacted the emergency services.

Her condition deteriorated but Mr Asif followed instructions from the call handler and provided assistance until paramedics arrived on the scene.

After she was taken to hospital for treatment a relative got in touch with Northern to say his swift intervention may have saved her life.

“When she walked onto the train, I knew something was not right and I needed to check on her. It was a gut feeling,” he said. 

“I said I didn’t need to check her ticket, I just wanted to see if she was okay.

“I knew she needed medical attention and we had to get the paramedics to her straight away because I had never seen this before, even after previously working in the airline industry for 20 years.

“It was a team effort as my driver assisted me while I spoke to control and 999.”

He is one of three Northern conductors who were recognised for stepping up to help customers in June.

Northern employs more than 1,400 conductors who travel on-board every one of its 2,500 daily services to keep customers safe and check that everyone is travelling with a valid ticket. 

People who are concerned about a passenger or incident on board a Northern service can contact the British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

British Transport Police’s ‘Railway Guardian’ app is available to download from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Note to editor: The conductor is not available for interview. The specific date, time and location of the incident has been omitted from this press release to protect the identity of the individual involved and to avoid causing any distress or upset to her friends and family.