Hero motorist tells how he stopped a young man from throwing himself off a Wigan motorway bridge

Kieran Greenall was driving from his home in Hindley to Preston with pal Keenan Cunliffe for some early hours fishing on Saturday October 22 when they came across the distressed man on the wrong side of the railings on the M6 roundabout at Standish.

After the 24-year-old shouted to the man if he was all right, he says he realised that there was no time for negotiations or reasoning.

He jumped out of the vehicle, ran up to the man on his blind side, grabbed him in a bear hug and hauled him back over the parapet.

The man struggled violently but roofer Kieran held him fast, even though he was the smaller of the two, while 23-year-old Keenan rang 999.

A delivery van was flagged down to block the road because the pair were in the middle of the carriageway and there was a danger of being hit by vehicles.

It was 20 minutes before police and an ambulance arrived, after which the man was handcuffed and taken away.

A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said that he was taken to hospital for treatment.

Kieran said: “I don’t know whether to feel proud or sad, but it was certainly overwhelming.

"I hope that was a moment in the man’s life when we’ve turned something round.

"I think he told me he was an immigrant and that he was 22. I told him that he had loved ones waiting for him and worried about him but he said he had no-one and was living in a hostel.

"I just kept him talking. I said that in six months time he will be having breakfast with me.

"I hope he can turn things around.”

Kieran and Keenan had set off from home at 4.30am and it was at about 5am that they reached Standish.

Kieran said: “I didn’t see the lad – it was Keenan who said to me ‘there’s someone on the other side of the bridge.’

“The guy was holding onto the railings and leaning out over the motorway. I shouted to him if he was OK but he turned away. He had head phones on.

"I realised there was no time to be trying to talk him down, so I parked up and ran over to him when he was looking in the other direction and grabbed him.”

The GMP spokeswoman said: “At around 5.30am this morning (October 22), officers received a report regarding the concern for welfare of a man on Crow Orchard Road in Wigan.

"Officers and an ambulance attended and the man was taken to hospital to receive treatment.”