A QUICK-thinking Bury cop has earned a top bravery award.

Off-duty Detective Constable Chris Jameson averted a potential motorway disaster when he saved a young woman intent on jumping from a bridge over the M66.

The incident happened at the Walmersley Old Road bridge on August 1 last year.

DC Jameson, who has served in Whitefield since 1986, is now to receive a Royal Humane Society testimonial for his life-saving action.

The modest 37-year-old father of two said: "No amount of training prepared me for what happened that night. I just did what anyone else would have done."

DC Jameson was driving along the motorway shortly before midnight when he spotted the 25-year-old woman, who has not been identified, standing on the outside of the bridge railings.

Stopping his car on the hard shoulder, DC Jameson climbed the embankment and approached her, distracting the woman in conversation before reaching out and, despite a struggle, pulling her to safety.

The citation says that the officer who lives in Ribble Valley was in danger of being pulled over the bridge during the brief struggle.

No date has yet been set for the presentation of the award but it is expected to take place in the near future.

DC Jameson said: "I spoke with the woman for a short time although there was no real theme to what I was talking about.

"I asked her why she was doing what she was doing, told her that life was not that bad, and then grabbed her."

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