A security guard who received an award normally reserved for police spoke of the night he prevented a man from jumping from a high-rise car park.

Zain Khan Kiyani (pictured), of Blackburn, received a Divisional Commanders' Commendation, along with colleague John Grimes and PC Dave Pearson for the incident at the Arndale Centre, Accrington, in December.

Mr Kiyani, 30, was first at the scene with Mr Grimes. They found a man sat on the ledge with his legs dangling over. He then spent the next half hour reassuring the man, who has not been named, until police arrived. He then acted as a mediator between the man and police during a two-and-a-half hour operation in freezing temperatures.

Mr Kiyani said he had not received any formal training and just talked to the man "like anybody would". He said he met him months later, when he had thanked him personally.

The Stirling Guards Ltd worker said he was first alerted to the incident in a call from the company's CCTV office at 4.15pm

"I went up to level six with a colleague, John Grimes, who doesn't work here any more, to ask what was wrong and the man was telling me he had split up from his wife and had had enough of life and wanted to jump off.

"He said he wanted me to look after his mum so I asked him how his mother would feel, and that he shouldn't be doing this. I also told him I had been through something similar and that I understood."

"I was very scared. When he said he wanted to come in, we all helped him down.

"The best bit was seeing him months later. I was really shocked. It was at the Union Street entrance to the centre, he came up and hugged and thanked me.

"He only got in that position because he couldn't cope with the situation, he's really just a normal guy."

Chief Inspector John Thompson, of Lancashire Police, said: "This award is usually only given to police officers, but Zain did such a wonderful job that he deserves it. He had the patience and the presence of mind to prevent this man from jumping. A lot of people don't recognise a the good work that security guards do."