This is the moment a dog-lover dramatically jumped onto railway tracks to save a stricken Labrador after its owner dragged the animal on to the line as a train hurtled towards the station.
Mickey Parkes, a financial manager who lives in Stretford, told MailOnline he wrestled the dog away from the man after watching him jump down on to the tracks at Manchester Piccadilly station.
He then took the beleaguered pet back on to the platform and handed it over to police, while the 47-year-old owner was bundled to the floor in front of shocked onlookers.
This is the moment Mickey Parkes (left) dramatically jumped onto railway tracks to save a stricken Labrador after its owner (middle) dragged the dog along the line as a train hurtled towards the station
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Mr Parkes, who said he is ‘100 per cent’ a dog man, described the moment he wrestled the dog from the man, saying he feared the owner was about to plunge 40ft over a set of railings to the street below
The incident took place on Saturday as passengers waited for the 10.55am train to Liverpool.
Mr Parkes said: ‘I first saw the guy while I was getting my train ticket, screaming and shouting to himself in the station.
‘While waiting for my train 20 minutes later he jumped down on to the train tracks. There was something clearly wrong with him.
‘Everyone was shouting to get him off the track but he was just shouting back at them.
‘I saw the train coming, and my concern was that on the other side of the track there is a metal railing, and for some reason I had it in my head that he would try and jump over with the dog.
‘There’s a 40ft drop on the other side, so it would almost certainly have killed both of them.
‘My instinct was to get down and get the dog. I had to wrestle it off of the guy.’
Mr Parkes said that after he climbed back up on to the platform the man followed him, and walked over with a bicycle pump in his hand.
He said the man approached him, but he refused to give the dog back and the man walked away.
He added: ‘The saddest this was that the dog didn’t even try to follow him.
‘My train was coming soon after that, so I handed the dog over to the police who had arrived, and then left.
The 47-year-old man, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, was later restrained by police (pictured). He appeared yesterday at Salford Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to railway trespass
‘I heard later that the man had been arrested, but I didn’t see any of that. It all happened so fast, from the time he go on to the tracks until the time I handed the dog over was only five minutes.’
The 47-year-old, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, appeared at Salford Magistrates’ Court yesterday, charged with railway trespass. He pleaded guilty and was given an absolute discharge.
The dog is now reportedly being cared for in a home.
Mr Parkes said he is ‘100 per cent’ a dog man as his mother and grandparents all owned dogs while he was growing up in Nottingham.
He said that after watching the man jump down on to the tracks, his instinct was to protect the animal, despite never having been involved in anything like this before.
Speaking abut his reputation as a hero, he said: ‘It’s a bit overwhelming to be honest, a couple of lads stopped me on a train the other day to congratulate me.’
Dusty Baggins, 50, from Hadfield, which is the edge of the Peak District, was at the station when the incident unfolded.
He said: ‘The guy was just walking up the track, shouting and screaming, you couldn’t work out what he was saying.
‘He was a big guy, maybe 19 stone and 5ft 8inches, he jumped onto the railway line dragging his old Labrador by the lead.
‘He’s clearly not well, so people were going towards him saying ‘what you’re doing what you’re doing?’ This one young chap had seen the train stop not a quarter of a mile away.
‘The guard on the platform had seen it all and quick as anything phoned through and got the lights changed for the oncoming train.’
The incident took place on Saturday as horrified passengers waited at Manchester Piccadilly (pictured, file picture) for the 10.55am train to Liverpool
Speaking about the stranger who rescued the dog, he added: ‘He wrestled the dog off him and cleared off the line. Then the big feller jumped back onto the platform and the police jumped right on him, took him down and took him off.
‘The dog is in a dog’s home now. It was a very old dog, the poor thing.’
A British Transport Police spokesman said officers were called to the station on Saturday morning following reports of a man and a dog on the tracks.
They added: ‘A 47-year-old man from Leigh appeared at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 4 May charged with railway trespass and was given an absolute discharge.’