Paramedic goes by bus

The bizarre incident happened at 10am on Tuesday when Joe Marshall, 31, based at Hove, arrived in Lewes to get his rapid response car repaired.

He was catching up with paperwork and enjoying a cup of tea at ambulance headquarters in Friars Walk when the emergency call came in.

Without a car, Joe grabbed his paramedic kitbag, which weighs 45lb, and staggered with it to the corner of School Hill.

He took one look up the steep road and realised that he would never make it in time to the West Street home of the victim unless he took urgent action.

'Just then a bus came past and I literally commandeered it,' said Joe. 'As a relative stranger to Lewes I wasn't too sure where to go, but the bus dropped me off at the war memorial and passengers gave me directions.

'I did pretty well. I managed to get from headquarters to West Street in about two minutes!'

Joe treated a man in his 80s who had suffered a heart attack. The Lewes ambulance crew were already there and had requested back-up.

'I was the man on the spot the right person in the right place at the right time,' added Joe.

'I gave the gentleman drugs and oxygen and he started breathing.

'I'm glad to have been of service. It had an outcome on his chances of survival. The more crew at an emergency, the better.'

Joe then walked back to head-quarters, enjoyed a well-earned cup of tea and picked up his car.

The elderly man on Tuesday afternoon was in intensive care at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.