Sheerness beach cleaner hailed a life-saving hero
Published
Monday 19 October, 2026
Updated
Monday 19 October, 2026
Swale Borough Council's beach cleaner became a life-saving hero when he found a man collapsed on the local promenade.
Peter Jones has been awarded a major national life-saving honour for the role he played in bringing the man back from the brink of death.
He is to receive a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate.
The incident happened as Peter was driving his sea-front truck along the Marine Parade beach promenade on the morning of 22 April this year.
He came across the man, a sea-front regular, who had collapsed while chatting to two women.
Peter immediately began administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and continued the gruelling procedure for ten minutes until an ambulance arrived and a defibrillator had been prepared to shock the man.
After three shocks the man’s heart re-started and he began breathing again.
The man went on to make a full recovery, is now back riding his bike along the sea-front and has thanked Peter for saving his life.
In addition to the award he is to receive Peter has also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society.
“Without doubt he was the right person in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“The two women who had been chatting to the man did not know what to do to help him when he collapsed but Peter arrived and immediately began administering CPR. It undoubtedly played a major role in bringing the man back to life.
“Peter richly deserves the award he is to receive. At the same time though there are many incidents where lives are saved and those involved never receive awards they deserve because their names have never been put forward.
“We appeal to members of the public if they hear of incidents in which lives have been saved, sometimes in circumstances where the life savers have put their own lives in danger, to bring them to our attention,”
The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back nearly 250 years. Other than awards made by the Crown it is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.
It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.
However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.
The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 90,000 cases and made over 220,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.
