A man hauled to safety after he collapsed on to the tracks at Dundee Railway Station after suffering an epileptic seizure has spoken of his relief that the incident was not more serious.
Kenneth Kidd, 32, of Blairgowrie, collapsed at platform four on Monday morning and fellow passengers jumped on to the tracks to pull him back to safety and tended to him until paramedics arrived.
Luckily no trains were due at the time, but a temporary closure of the line was ordered to make sure there was no risk to anyone.
Recovering at home, Mr Kidd said: “I am a bit sore but other than that I am all right. I was lucky sometimes the station is not that busy at that time of the morning. I really want to thank the people who helped me.”
Mr Kidd, who is a chef, had been at the station to begin his regular journey to work at Sullom Voe on Shetland.
He was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 18, but he had not suffered a seizure for around 18 months before Monday.
There was no warning and Mr Kidd has no memory of his tumble on to the tracks.
“It can happen totally randomly, out of the blue,” he said. “Unfortunately it happened yesterday at the train station.
“Once I came around I didn’t know what had happened. When I have a seizure I can’t remember anything from up to a day ago. It’s pretty hellish.”
The passengers who came to his aid told Mr Kidd about his fall.
“I didn’t believe it when they told me. I thought ‘oh my God’. Luckily one woman had seen my ID bracelet and she was able to get other details from my wallet and tell the paramedics.
“If it hadn’t been for that I think I would have ended up in hospital.”
After being treated at the scene Mr Kidd felt well enough to go home, where he immediately went to bed and slept until Tuesday morning.
“I can sleep for 24 hours after a seizure and not eat anything. That’s how bad they are.”
His only injuries are some cuts and bruises.
It was not the first time he had suffered a seizure while in public but past experiences have seen people react with far less concern than that shown by the passengers at the station.
In one incident Mr Kidd collapsed in the street and a woman who phoned for an ambulance thought he was a drug addict. Another incident saw a woman step over him to get on a bus.
His latest seizure prevented him from getting to work on time. He usually works three weeks on and two weeks off at Sullom Voe.
“Thankfully my boss has been very sympathetic,” Kenneth said.
“I will be going back up tomorrow. I will be back at the train station, but I will not be standing at the edge of the platform that’s for definite.”
Epilepsy is brief disturbance in the brain’s normal electrical activity that causes the nerve cells to fire off random signals. The result is like an electrical storm that causes a temporary overload in the brain.
More than 50,000 people in Scotland have the condition.