TRAINS were stopped when a severely depressed man threatened to throw himself off a railway bridge in Chippenham.

The man perched on the edge of the bridge over Bath Road for three hours in the early hours of Friday morning, December 7.

The drama started when the 37-year-old's mother called the police and said her son was threatening to kill himself.

All trains were stopped and did not resume until 5.20am after the man had been talked down.

The drama happened less than five hours before the Queen and Prince Philip were due to arrive at the town's station for a visit to north Wiltshire.

PC David Smith said: "The mother rang in because he had said he was going to go and climb up the bridge.

"We drove out to the scene and sure enough he was sitting up on the archway, which is pretty high up. All we could think is we've got to do our job and talk to this guy."

The man pelted the police with shingle from the railway line to keep them away from him.

PC Smith said: "He was throwing down shingle from the railway line at us, so we had to keep at a safe distance.

"He said he needed help and he was depressed."

A specially trained negotiator was brought in and the man agreed to climb down after three hours.

He was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act.