A freak fire at Sutton train station lead an unusual twist of fate which saved someone’s life.

Midwife Rosie Murphy, was on her way to Sutton Station to get to work on Tuesday, February 25, when an electrical cable explosion shut the station down, causing travel chaos.

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An ambulance at the scene in Sutton High Street

She walked to the nearest bus stop but decided carry on walking to the next one, at the bottom of Sutton High Street, as the first was overwhelmed with commuters.

Ms Murphy, who works for the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on a secondment from the Epsom and St Helier trust, noticed a man lying on the floor.

She found he had stopped breathing and started administering CPR but after more than three minutes there was still no sign of a pulse.

She continued to deliver CPR when police and paramedics and the man was taken away in an ambulance after he started breathing again.

She said: "I ran over and there was somebody else trying to feel for a pulse but they couldn’t find it. The man looked blue around his lips and lower jaw.

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The fire at Sutton train station 

"I just went into autopilot. When I look back on it now I don’t even remember being out of breath giving CPR for more than three minutes - which is quite hard going.

"I was quite overwhelmed when he regained consciousness - more because of what would have happened if I had forgotten what to do or panicked. It seems so surreal. As a midwife we obviously have that training but generally pregnant women are fit and healthy - we don’t ever expect to have to use it.

"It was more coincidence than fate I think - but it was meant to be."

The man is understood to be alive and well.

Debbie Warner, sister in charge of the Fetal Medicine Unit at UCLH where Ms Murphy is a research midwife, said: "We are very proud of Rosie for her quick thinking and action, we are glad her efforts are being acknowledged."