It was such a privilege to hand over a letter from King Charles III to five tram workers who helped save the life of Rosina Marshall, 87.
It all began when I knocked on Rosina’s door during a canvassing session some months ago, as I do across Croydon every week. She told me the story of what had happened to her, and I wrote to the King on her behalf.
She told me how she fell on to the tram tracks as she was trying to navigate her way across. As an elderly person with limited mobility she was unable to get back up and was lying across the line. On hearing Rosina’s calls for help, five tram staff reacted immediately to get her up off the tram tracks and supported her quickly back to safety.
Those five staff were James Lapidge, Chadrakant Patel, Michael Farrara, Karl Williams, and Dhaval Barot. I didn’t think the King would have the time to respond to my letter, but he soon got back to me, praising the five’s ‘remarkable actions’, and thanking them for their ‘selflessness’, ‘professionalism’, and ‘exemplary care’.
We arranged a little get together to make sure there was a proper handover of the letter, and it was wonderful to meet the families of Rosina and James, Chadrakant, Michael, Karl, and Dhaval.
They are a credit to Croydon.