Knife ordeal: cool officers praised

TWO traffic officers have been commended by police for their bravery after they were threatened with a knife.

Darren Nuttall and Ian Nesbitt were on duty in Gatley, Stockport, at junction 4 of the M60, when they spotted a woman walking along the central reservation.

As they prepared to stop the traffic to allow her cross to the hard shoulder she pulled out a knife and started screaming.

Ian (35), from Middleton, said: “It was a bit of a shock when she pulled out the knife but I went to the hard shoulder and we got the police involved right away.”

Darren and Ian then stopped the traffic and told drivers what was happening.

Darren (37), from Bury, said: “At one point she came towards our car with the knife but we told her we wouldn’t talk to her unless she put the knife down. She calmed down a little and then back-up arrived and arrested her.”

The police officers dealing with the incident immediately radioed the traffic officers’ control room in the Highways Agency’s regional control centre at Newton–le–Willows, praising the calm way they had managed the situation.

Jamie Carr, North-West regional operations manager, said, “We frequently come across pedestrians on the network and while cases are rarely as extreme as this our traffic officers are trained to react accordingly.

“Traffic officers are not the police. We are on the motorway network to help drivers and to keep traffic moving, but we are often the first at incidents and our officers have to keep their wits about them.

“In spite of the very challenging circumstances in this case Darren and Ian’s quick thinking prevented what might have been a nasty accident.”