It might be the pain medication, Andrew Taylor jokes — but the Hamilton man is convinced he met an angel.

It was last Tuesday, Dec. 20. He had gone to the barber for a shave, and then stopped at the LCBO to pick up a bottle of wine. His daughters were home for an early Christmas dinner and his wife was busy at home in the kitchen.

As he headed home on Main Street East near the traffic circle, Taylor, 52, slipped on the ice.

"Within a minute, I realized something had gone bad. I reached down and realized my foot wasn't where it was supposed to be. And then I felt another protrusion that wasn't where it was supposed to be," he recalled Wednesday.

"The next thing I heard was the whoosh of a city bus stopping."

An HSR driver, spotting Taylor sprawled on the ice, pulled his bus over and got out to help.

"He said 'Hi … I'm a bus driver from the HSR. You've had a bad fall. I have paramedic training and I've called EMS, but with your permission I'd like to splint your foot,'" Taylor says.

The driver worked to secure his injured ankle until the ambulance arrived to take him to hospital. It turned out he had fractured his ankle in three places.

Now on bed rest, Taylor knows that the man was just doing his job, but he is brought to tears as he recalls the good deed. He says the driver's efforts made a real difference in his recovery — and at the very least, minimized his trauma.

Taylor emailed the HSR with his praise for the driver. In response, they said a commendation will be passed on to his supervisor.

"This is a city of angels … that bus driver in particular deserves some kind of medal," Taylor says. "Even the passengers on that bus … they just waited, without muttering or cursing that they had to be delayed. They didn't care. This is a good city. Thank you Hamilton."

Eric Tuck, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107, says he is proud of the operator, whom he did not name.

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"Although it's not a requirement of our job, it is an expectation," Tuck said of the driver's quick thinking.

"This kind of thing happens on a daily basis quite frankly, and there's not enough recognition for it. People are always quick to call in to complain, but when an operator does something like this, all too often it's a 'thank you' and they're on their way. They don't always get the recognition they should."