Four public services students have been praised by police after they saved a man’s life on their walk home from college.

The students from Warrington & Vale Royal College came to the aid of a man who was considering jumping from a bridge over the M62 motorway, keeping him calm and blocking his path to the edge of the bridge.

Inspector Hannah Friend from Cheshire Police presented Connor O’Hara, Kaileb Walters, James Barnshaw and Nathan Kenyon, all in their final year of their level three course, with “good citizen” citations, after tracking the boys down via a social media appeal launched by the local newspaper, Warrington Worldwide.

“These individuals have acted with compassion, bravery and selflessness. They have demonstrated the best qualities of community spirit and have rightly been described as pillars of the community for their outstanding assistance during this incident,” she said.

“We weren’t aware that there was CCTV filming us,” said Nathan. “We didn’t do it for the recognition, it was just instinct and something we hope any other human would do.”