Accident victim saved thanks to homeless '˜good Samaritan'

The man was taken to Peterborough City Hospital with a broken leg, with his mum contacting the Peterborough Telegraph to praise both Good Samaritans who she said may have saved her son’s life with temperatures plummeting to nearly freezing.

“If he was there any longer, if those guys had not found him, it would have been a different story,” she said.

“He could have died quite easily.”

The mum, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she wanted to thank the second Good Samaritan whose name she does not know, as well as publicise Mark’s selflessness and the work of East of England Ambulance Service and Peterborough City Hospital.

The man in his 20s who collapsed after falling had been walking in the city centre in the early hours of the morning two Saturdays ago.

His mum told the PT: “Two Good Samaritans came to his rescue at 3am.

“One called home to say there would be a delay with the ambulance and to ask for clothes and blankets as he was getting hypothermic.

“This gentleman we wish to thank as we do not know who he is as he rang from our son’s phone.

“We were able to get there with a blanket and warmer clothes. When we arrived Mark, a local homeless man, had given up his bedding for our son to keep him warm as he was worried and trying to keep him awake until the ambulance arrived.

“We wish to thank them for their great acts of kindness. If he wasn’t found, sadly on that cold night and with his temperature plummeting to 35 degrees (Fahrenheit) he could have died.

“We have managed to find Mark and offer him thanks and appreciation for his generosity and deep sense of care. We don’t know who the other Good Samaritan was but please can you print a column of great thanks to him and to Mark once again – there are such good people out there.”

The injured man’s mum said Mark had seen his feet on the underpass steps.

“Blankets are all he possesses and he gave them up,” she said. “Both men stayed with my son until my husband made it there. He gave the blankets back when our son was in the ambulance.

“We went shopping and got him some gloves and socks and lots of Christmas goodies.

“We went a bit crazy like you do, but you can’t put a price on it. He gave up his most valued possession.”

Figures from Peterborough City Council show there were 328 homeless households in Peterborough at the end of September.

However, figures released by the BBC, which they took from the Department for Communities and Local Government, state that more than 170 vulnerable people and young families have been declared homeless by the council and could have spent Christmas in temporary accommodation.

Of that number, 125 applicants have at least one dependent child - while 25 have three children.

The figures show 12 per cent suffer from mental health issues and that a further 11 have physical disabilities, while some women are also pregnant.Moreover, 11 applicants had to leave their homes due to violent partners.

Overall, the homelessness figures in Peterborough show an 11 per cent rise on the same period in 2016 and a 128 per cent increase on the third quarter of 2014, according to the BBC.

It said that the council dealt with 289 decisions between July and the end of September and decided that 111 applicants were either not homeless, not priority cases or were intentionally homeless.

These figures do not include rough sleepers.

Across England local authorities accepted 15,290 households as being statutorily homeless between July and September, up six per cent from the previous quarter and up two per cent on the same quarter of last year.

The number of households in the country living in temporary accommodation also rose, increasing by six per cent on the same date last year.

In January this year the council was estimating there were 21 people sleeping rough in the city, up from 15 last year.

The following month the authority said it had helped 27 rough sleepers swap the streets for a better life since April 2016.