A STUDENT nurse from York who saved an elderly man's life is to be commended for her swift actions.

Victoria Hetherington went to the rescue of a man who had been knocked off his bicycle in an accident and saved his life.

Victoria, who is a third year student nurse, was in a traffic jam at Heworth roundabout, on April 28, when she realised there had been an accident.

"A few people were standing around an elderly cyclist who had been knocked off his bike, so I got out of my car to see how I could help," said Victoria.

"The cyclist was having great difficulty breathing as his airway was blocked and he was obviously in shock.

"I discovered that there was no one else on the scene who could give professional help and so I set about taking action.

"I asked one man to go for a blanket and another to divert the traffic. Then I set about clearing his airway."

Eventually paramedics arrived on the scene and took the man to hospital.

Paramedic supervisor Kevin Winchift said that the patient would have died if Victoria had not acted so swiftly.

They are now planning to give her a letter of commendation for her ability to deal with the situation before the paramedics arrived on the scene.

Victoria's tutor, Yvonne Dobson, said: "Congratulations to Victoria. This is a dramatic example for students which shows how theoretical perspectives can occasionally be transferred into practice with successful results."

Victoria said she had been told she looked very calm throughout the incident, but when it was over she was shaking and needed to call her mum to tell her what had happened.

She originally started her training at Ripon in 1999, but left to have a baby and went back to her studies in York last year.

Updated: 09:40 Monday, May 05, 2003