Off-Duty Officer Rescues Man from Burning Car Wins Bravery Award

An officer who was off-duty when he dragged an unresponsive man to safety from a burning car has won a Cheshire Police Federation Bravery Award.

At 3am on 28 September 2024, PC Mark Jones of the Roads and Crime Unit (RCU) was driving home from work on the A543 near Congleton when he saw a considerably damaged car that had collided with a tree on the side of the carriageway.

He stopped his car and phoned a colleague to find out if it was an abandoned vehicle from earlier in the day. Meanwhile he approached the damaged vehicle and saw that flames were coming out of the bonnet. He tried to open the car doors but they were locked, and all the airbags had been deployed so he couldn’t see if anyone was inside.

The fire was taking hold, so PC Jones found a large tree branch and smashed the passenger-side window. He reached in and unlocked the door, then saw a man slumped behind the steering wheel, unresponsive. PC Jones shook the man and shouted for him to wake up, but he still did not respond.

PC Jones recalled:

“The flames were now really picking up and the heat inside the vehicle was incredible. I was really struggling, to be honest. The front of the vehicle was crumpled in and the man’s legs were trapped under the steering wheel. He was slumped forward and I struggled to get his seatbelt off. I was doing it all through the passenger side because the driver’s side was in a hedge.

“I finally released the man’s seatbelt and got it over him. I tried pulling and pulling him and that’s when I realised his legs were stuck and it was not going to be easy at all.

“I saw a passing vehicle and tried to flag it down in the middle of the road, but it just carried on.

“I was starting to panic, and when I went back in again to try and get him out, I felt like the heat was burning the side of my face. I was thinking: ‘Is this thing going to blow up at any time?’. I knew I’d have to get this guy out in the next minute or two.

“I managed to twist him, then yanked for what felt like forever. I got him underneath his arms, and after one big, massive pull he came out. I pulled him up and over the passenger seat and onto the road, and then dragged him 50 metres up the road.”

PC Jones worried that there might be someone else in the car, so he went back to check, at great risk to himself. Luckily, no one else was there. But in the time it took for him to run back to the car, the vehicle was totally ablaze, as was the tree next to it.

A colleague arrived at the scene to assist PC Jones and luckily the man from the car was starting to come round. A few minutes later, the fire service arrived to put out the fire.

The man made a full recovery, and was later prosecuted for drink driving and banned for driving for 20 months and also received a total of £1,030 in fines.

When he heard he was up for an award, PC Jones said:

“I never expected anything like this – my first thought was that any other police officer would do the same. I just think I was in the right place at the right time. If I was five minutes later driving down that road, I would have come across a car that was fully on fire. But it’s really nice to be nominated.”

Cheshire Police Federation Chair Jamie Thompson said:

“Despite Mark’s modesty, he undoubtedly saved the man’s life and showed great courage and resourcefulness when he had no police equipment on him and had to act alone in darkness and extreme danger.

“As always this incident shows that police officers are never really off duty. Mark exemplifies the best of the best our profession. We are very proud of his life saving work and he is a worthy winner of a Bravery Award.”

PC Jones will attend the 2025 Cheshire Police Federation Bravery Awards on 20 March. At the event an overall winner will be announced, who will travel to London for the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.

The Cheshire Police Federation Bravery Awards are in association with Axon.

Also sponsoring the awards are:

Slater Gordon, Police Mortgages, The National Police Healthcare Scheme, No 1 Copperpot Credit Union, Niche, Phillip Williams Insurance, Uniform Mortgages, Accord, Ralli Injury Lawyers and The Cheshire Police Group Insurance Scheme.

Pictured - PC Mark Jones of the Roads and Crime Unit.