Southern recently held its annual staff excellence awards at London’s Imperial War Museum. Of the 145 Southern staff who received Gold Silver or Bronze awards over the last 12 months, seven won category awards on the night.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the coveted ‘Winner of Winners’ award which was given to East Croydon station Revenue Protection Officer and Thornton Heath resident, Ken Holmes.
Ken was nominated for the compassion and professionalism he displayed supporting a passenger who had been taken ill on the platform at East Croydon station. After establishing that the gentleman suffered from epilepsy and diabetes, Ken also discovered that he was recovering from recent brain surgery and immediately called for an ambulance.
Whilst waiting with the passenger for the emergency services to arrive, Ken obtained the name of the respite home where the gentleman was being treated and passed on this crucial information to the ambulance crew.
The following day, during his own time, Ken contacted the hospital the passenger had been taken to and offered to escort him to Paddington station and put him on a train to his care home. Ken had even taken the time to contact the Duty manager at Paddington to reserve a ticket for the gentleman and to make them aware of his special circumstances.
Samantha Hall, the Manager of Headway, a charity which supports survivors of acquired brain injury, said: “Ken should be praised for recognising and coming to the aid of a vulnerable and distressed gentleman. On noticing that he was epileptic and insulin dependent, Ken was quick to act and arrange for an ambulance to be called. Many people would have dismissed the gentleman as being drunk or strange, but because Ken took the time to assess the situation, he recognised the signs and acted.”
Southern’s Head of Revenue Protection & Security Martin Grier, said: “Ken demonstrates the behaviours required to ensure that ‘Making every journey better’ is a part of who he is; his commitment to delivering good customer service, even when carrying out the hardest part of his role, dealing with fare evasion, has been demonstrated many times over during the past year.”
Ken was typically modest when he said: “I don’t think I did anything that any one of my colleagues wouldn’t have done. It really was just doing my job and I was thinking how I would want to be treated if I was that passenger.”
