HEROIC police officers and quick-thinking members of the public managed to pull a man to safety from a bridge above the railway line in Colchester.

At about 5.30pm on Sunday afternoon a man was spotted scaling the bridge, part of the A134 or Eastern Approach, in Hythe, then sitting facing the tracks below.

Members of the public had spotted the gentleman and called 999, with officers immediately dispatched to the scene.

Essex Police attended and blocked one lane of the carriageway whilst they engaged with the man sitting on the bridge and a member of the public who was trying to coax him down to safety.

One witness, who drove past at the time the incident was unfolding, said: “I had just gone over to pick my daughter up for Sunday dinner and as I was driving from Greenstead towards Old Heath I saw a bloke sitting on the bridge.

“There was another bloke there who looked like he was on the phone and was trying to get him down.

“I then went round the roundabout to come back towards him and dialled 999.

“I described where it was and the police call handler told me they had already had another report.

“I pulled over and waited there until police arrived.

“They were there a couple of minutes after I had called them as they obviously knew it was urgent.”

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Officers are understood to have pulled the man to safety from the bridge on to the pavement below.

The witness added: “They didn’t hang around and managed to get him down.

“He looked extremely distressed.

“I am not sure if the other guy was with him or a passerby but he looked very concerned.

“Credit to the police for getting there so quickly they managed to stop him jumping.

"The traffic was quite quiet round there at the time."

He added: “He would have landed on the railway tracks below if he had fallen.”

The bridge runs over the railway line near Tesco Hythe.

Essex Police were contacted but did not respond by the time of going to press.