POLICE have praised quick thinking heroic members of the public who helped a man attempting to jump off a bridge.

Passers-by told how they stopped after seeing a man on the wrong side of the bridge near the motorway at 5pm on Wednesday and stopped to talk to him.

AJ Singh, a 25-year-old taxi driver who was going back home to Manchester said: "There was me and two other people and we stopped to talk to him. We must have been talking to him for an hour, telling him we all know someone who has felt like that, he was very scared. He did pull himself over the railings. I was so relieved, I just think that he should have been able to the help he needed before it got this far."

The man is now receiving help.

Writing on Facebook, officers working in the Bolton Central area of the borough said that passers-by intervened after a man was seen on a bridge crossing the A666.

Officers wrote: “Members of the public physically pulled a male from attempting to jump.

“The male was taken to hospital to be assessed by mental health professionals.

“A massive thank you to those unsung heroes who helped to save the young man. Hopefully he will get the help he needs.”

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