Meet the driver who saved a life

When a women collapsed on the 466 route Amar Wahid was driving he didn’t hesitate to put his long term first aid training to use.

Amar said the woman had run for the bus and was breathing heavily when she got on, but after a while on the bus she didn’t look very well and suddenly collapsed.

“Her face started changing colour,” he said, “and you only have a few seconds in that situation to choose to do something or not. I just jumped in.”

Amar got his first aid certificate when he worked as a personal trainer before becoming a bus driver. “I have just kept renewing it every three years. It’s a short day of training but you can really help people if you keep it up to date,” he said.

Despite having his first aid certificate for a long time, he had never put it to use in a serious situation. He had looked after small burns and cuts, but had never performed CPR.

“After she collapsed I checked her airways, and there was nothing, so I just started the CPR. And those 12 or 15 minutes before the ambulance arrived were the longest in my life.”

Amar has been a driver for about two years now and says he doesn’t have much spare time between work and looking after his young family. “I like driving buses, it’s a good job. We work hard and we do our best to look out for the wellbeing of passengers, but it can also be long hours in heavy traffic, I just hope people recognise that.”