Bus driver receives award for helping vulnerable woman on the Spalding to Peterborough Stagecoach service

A bus driver who called 999 after spotting one of his passengers had fallen ill has been presented with an award.

Lewis Mayo called for an ambulance after he noticed that the vulnerable woman in her 20s needed medical help while on board the Spalding to Peterborough Stagecoach service.

He had allowed the woman, who was cold after sleeping rough, to ride the service for free during the cold weather. She had boarded the service at Peterborough Bus Station and asked to be taken to Spalding despite having no money for the fare.

On arrival at Spalding, she asked to be taken back to Peterborough in order to stay out of the cold.

But when the service returned to Peterborough, Lewis discovered the woman had curled herself up into a ball and looked extremely pale so he called 999.

The response was extremely quick and the paramedics managed to secure her condition.

Lewis has now been presented with the Stagecoach Star of the Month Award, in the category of ‘Doing the right thing’, after showing care and compassion for the woman.

Making the award, alongside Head of Operations at Peterborough depot, Hema Russell, Darren Roe, Managing Director of Stagecoach East, said: “I am so proud of the thoughtful and compassionate way that Lewis approached what was a very difficult situation – and to the rest of the team and the emergency services who worked so quickly and professionally to offer what help they could.

“Our thoughts are with this young woman and it just goes to show that, as people who run local buses, we are very much part of the local communities we serve – because they are our communities. As with our partnership with Businesses Against Abuse, our buses are safe-spaces, and our drivers will regularly go out of their way to help the most vulnerable members of our society.”