A VISITOR to York helped avert a potential tragedy in the River Ouse.

John Burns, 37, from Redcar, was visiting a friend in York and had been out in the city when they spotted a drunk young man trying to climb over the barrier near The Lowther pub at 3.45am on Sunday.

Mr Burns is a qualified lifeguard and surfing enthusiast and described himself as “a very confident and competent swimmer”, but said he did not take risks after having a pacemaker fitted when he was 21 following 32 cardiac arrests “in one sitting”.

He said he was on his way to get a taxi and was sober, when he saw the man in his 20s who was "extremely intoxicated".

Mr Burns said: "My friend’s a mental health nurse and tried to talk to him but he walked off and tried to climb over the barrier towards the river.

"He went straight through the gap and I distracted him with a loud noise, then made a joke about how if he went in I’d have to go in after him and hadn’t got my swimsuit. I just sparked up a conversation with him for probably about 20 minutes.”

York Press:

While Mr Burns spoke to the man, his friend phoned the police, who arrived after about 20 minutes.

He said: “We built up a rapport and talked about what he was doing. He lay down on the ground and refused to talk to anyone unless they lay down next to him.

"If the conversation didn’t go the way he liked, his feet got closer to the water. Something had gone on, he was talking about partnerships and stress and something had obviously gone wrong for him.

"I think if I hadn’t spoken to him, he’d have just walked straight into the river, and if the conversation didn’t go well we couldn’t have stopped him.”

Mr Burns added: "Something must have gone wrong. I didn’t get to the bottom of it, just kept him occupied chatting about movies he liked”.

He said: “I just hope he’s alright and got home safe and sorted and doesn’t do it again.

“He seemed to be a really pleasant lad, but really upset and talking about how he didn’t like his life and things like that.”

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman praised Mr Burns’ actions, and said officers “attended, spoke to the man and ensured he was reunited with his friends, who returned him home safely”.

The spokesman said: “We’re grateful to the members of the public who helped us bring this incident to a safe conclusion.”