A bus driver has spoken of the moment he brought a lady to safety on the High Level Bridge during his morning shift.
Steven Bates was driving a bus heading out of Newcastle city centre at around 8.30am on Monday when he spotted a young lady sitting with her legs over the bridge looking down at the River Tyne.
Fearing for her safety, he stopped the bus and rushed to her rescue, leaving around eight passengers wondering what had happened.
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But it didn't take long for them to figure out his heroic actions.
And now he has been praised by his passengers, colleagues and his foster child - who said Steven's actions were the best birthday present she could have asked for.
Steven, from Washington, said: "I saw a young lady with her feet over the edge sitting there.
"The walkway is cordoned off on the side where she was so I knew no one was going to be walking that way. I thought if I don't stop, who will?
"I stopped the bus, opened the doors and there were two crash barriers that I had to climb over - the passengers must have thought what is he doing?"
The 36-year-old added: "People at work have been saying well done but for me I don't feel like I should be getting the praise. For example, if you go and give someone £20, that's your choice.
"But I don't think I had a choice that day and I believe anyone who was there should have done it."
Steven said he noticed the lady at the bridge because she was sitting close to the spot where his family had fixed a padlock to the bridge three months earlier.
The padlock was locked to the bridge on the two-year anniversary of his foster child coming to stay with Steven and his wife.
He said: "It was the foster child's anniversary of being with us for two years and I just wanted a little something with me, her and my wife on to symbolise us together as one unit and no one can take that away."
"I always look on that side just to make sure it's still there.", he added.
"She was actually 16 on the same day I saved that lady.
"I came in after work and we were getting her stuff ready for her coming in from school and then we were going to take her out.
"When she heard the news she was like 'I don't care about any of my presents, that's the best present you could ever have given me and I'm so proud of you'.", Steven said.
Foster parent Steven believes the skills he has developed through fostering and the training he has received as a result helped him bring the lady to safety.
Steven said: "I didn't want to spook her and run straight up to her so I stayed quite a distance away and I can't really remember my exact words because adrenaline was kicking in.
"I think I introduced myself and said something like 'I noticed you sitting with your legs over there, I've just come to make sure you're OK?
"She just looked at me and she looked so sad and she never said anything. I thought to myself, 'right, do your foster training, your therapeutic stuff'.
"I asked her if there was anything she wanted to talk about or anything I could help her with, but she still wasn't talking and she kept on looking down at the water.
"I was thinking 'please, please, don't jump, please'. I said to her 'there's people who care about you. I care about you, even though I don't really know who you are'.
"I said I understand that a lot of people have really bad problems - I foster so I know. But I also know that if you get a bit of help that things can change."
He added: "As I was saying this I was getting closer and closer to her and she just kept looking down and then I had a chance to grab her so I just grabbed her and pulled her back over the railing when I thought it was safe to do so.
"She came straight over and I must have had a hold of her for about 10 seconds and then two police officers came running along.
"I was telling her 'you're safe now, I'm just here to help you' but still she never said anything."
Steven said that around 20 minutes after helping the lady at the bridge adrenaline began to wear off and he started to think about how different the outcome could have been.
"I started shaking and I started thinking imagine if she had jumped in the water, or I tried to grab her and she fell in.
"I started running through all these scenarios in my head. But lucky enough she was safe."
"I see the police on different bridges at least a couple of times a month so I think there's definitely more that needs to be done to stop people getting to that point in their life.
"If people have got a mental health illness anyway, and then on top of that you've got the pandemic, the war in in Ukraine, all the fuel prices going up so people are struggling with a lot at the minute.", he added.
For free, anonymous support for people in distress, including those experiencing suicidal thoughts, Samartians can be contacted free on 116 123 or by email to jo@samaritans.org
