A BRAVE Special Police Constable who saved a man walking across the motorway while he was off duty has been awarded for his dedication and hard work.

SPC Kyle Bowley was awarded with a Chief Constables Commendation at the Force Awards on Tuesday night at the Corn Exchange in Devizes.

SPC Bowley, based in Devizes, received the award for his quick thinking during an incident on the M4, which he came across by sheer coincidence.

On 6.30am Friday, September 29, he was off-duty and had just started his shift as a delivery driver for his full-time job at the time.

After only being on the motorway for 30 seconds he saw a car had stopped on the hard shoulder of the M4 between Junction 16 and 15 and a man was wandering between the hard shoulder and lane one, narrowly avoiding being hit by a large goods vehicle.

The stretch of road was unlit and extremely busy with commuter traffic.

SPC Bowley stopped and spoke to the driver who was acting erratically, quickly realising he was experiencing a mental health episode and was a risk to himself and to others.

“I was on the motorway for about 30 seconds and I saw the male in the slow lane of the motorway”, he said. “Obviously, although I was off duty, I still stopped and did something about it.

“I sort of put everything together, I knew what he was trying to do, you don’t normally just stand in moving traffic unless you intend for something to happen.

“I definitely knew it was someone wanting to commit suicide.”

SPC Bowley got his attention and restrained him until Police arrived.

Once they arrived on the scene, the driver told officers he wanted to kill himself.

Discussing receiving the award, he said: “It is quite surprising because I was just doing what I normally do. I wasn’t looking for an appraisal.”