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Sometimes, doormen in the area get a little bit of stick. Whether or not that’s justified, this is a story about a doorman who’s heroics on an evening undoubtedly saved a person’s life.

Mark Walsh, who works for Pro-Tec Security, was working on the doors of Park Lane on Tuesday 29th January, when a police officer came into the building at around 11:00pm.

The policeman asked if they had any spare keys for the building site across the road, as Mark’s company also do checks there. The reason the officer asked for keys is because there had been reports of a man breaking into the site and threatening to kill himself.

Luckily, Mark did have a spare set of keys, and as he and the officer made their way to the site, they saw a male running away and trying to climb some metal framework.

The framework is around 30 feet in the air and there are reinforced bars sticking up underneath, so had the man fell, he would have probably died instantly.

The man who had climbed the framework was very anti-police, so would only speak to Mark as he was just a doorman.

The man was drunk and he explained to Mark that he didn’t see a point in living, and that his son had recently died.

Mark then sympathised with him and spoke about his own son, and how he couldn’t imagine life without him, and from a father to a father, he couldn’t imagine the pain the man was going through.

After around 25 minutes of talking and thanks to Mark’s efforts, the man decided to climb down from the framework unharmed.

He then gave Mark a hug, which he described as “a truly great feeling” and the three men walked out of the building site together.

Although Mark helped out massively, he also said that the police officer that evening deserves credit for what was a team effort in saving a life.

Mark was sent a letter from the police offer expressing his gratitude.

Well done Mark! Awesome job.

Although this situation saw a happy ending (or a less sad ending than might have happened), there are thousands of people, and probably many in Torbay, who suffer with issues relating to our mental health.

Whether it’s to do with family, money, work, or anything else, if you ever feel as it there’s no hope for you, you’re wrong. There are many people who want to help, including the Samaritans