A pub doorman who potentially saved someone’s life, and a veteran local boxer who boxed for 52 years, were among seven people who awarded Mayor’s Commendations in Mansfield.

Doorman Alex Smith, from the Market Inn, Mansfield, spotted a man lying precariously on the wall of the nearby 60ft railway viaduct in August.

He ran up on to the viaduct, woke up the sleeping man and brought him down to safety, staying with him until police arrived.

Presenting him with his commendation at a full meeting of Mansfield District Council, the mayor, Kate Allsop, said: “Our CCTV department felt the outcome could have been very different if not for your quick thinking and bravery that night.”

The mayor also presented an award to boxer Steve Ward, of Mansfield, who has been boxing for 52 years.

Steve started the sport when he was nine and fought his first bout aged 11.

In 1977 he turned professional, retiring from the ring in 1988 after fighting 60 professional matches.

He returned to professional boxing in 2010, however, four years after he was told he would never walk again following an accident in which concrete fell on his foot.

He started boxing again with the European Boxing Federation aged 54, travelling the world to compete and winning 10 veterans matches, for which he was awarded the federation’s Belt of Achievement, Champion of Champions.

Other award recipients were Gary Varnam, of the council street cleansing team, council Neighbourhood Warden Tony Bower, and PCc Ian Dickson and Amy Whitehouse, who were all commended for their work in apprehending a serial graffiti-tagger in the
town.

Gary took it upon himself to meticulously log every instance of the graffiti he was asked to remove, which helped Tony build evidence and a profile of a likely culprit.

From that they were able to suggest a suspect and the two police officers then took up the case, culminating in the suspect admitting 40 offences of criminal damage.

Another recipient of the award was council CCTV operator Mick Turnbull, who helped police in two incidents of knife crime in the town.

By trawling through hours of CCTV footage, he enabled the police to identify a man who carried out a knifepoint robbery in the town in August.

Mayor Allsop said: “While the police could not trace the offenders at the time of the offence, the CCTV operators were able to identify them, their vehicle and direction of travel, including the driving of the vehicle the wrong way on a one-way street.”

Mike’s years of experience also helped avert a potential knife-crime incident when he spotted a group of men acting suspiciously.

He was able to see that one of the men had a long-bladed knife up his sleeve and worked out from the cameras who the likely victim was going to be.

He helped direct police and enabled them to intervene.

From left, street cleaner Gary Varnam, deputy mayor Coun Mick Barton, boxer Steve Ward, mayor Kate Allsop, doorman Alex Smith, CCTV operator Mick Turnbull, PC Ian Dickson, Neighbourhood Warden Tony Bower and PC Amy Whitehouse.