Has the era of have-a-go heroes sadly come to a quiet end? - Sarah Todd

How disappointing to read that crowds watched a man nearly drown with seemingly no one stepping up to the plate to help. Even worse to realise that last Thursday’s demonstration of an appalling lack of backbone took place in God’s own county.

It wasn’t that nobody saw the man fall into the freezing cold 30ft-deep River Ouse n York. In fact, quite the opposite. There were plenty of people around as it didn’t happen in the early morning or late at night - it was in broad daylight in the afternoon.

North Yorkshire Police has confirmed that crowds gathered on Ouse Bridge and the surrounding footpaths, “watching the man struggle to keep his head above water”.

In fact, it’s been suggested on social media, that some people found the time to get their mobile phones out and take selfies while the poor man struggled to keep his head above the water.

In spite of there being two life rings within 50 metres of the scene, police have confirmed it seems not one single person made an attempt to throw one out to the drowning man.

In the end, it was North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the York Rescue Boat that got the man out of the water; he was then given first aid by paramedics on the river bank.

Although the professionals always warn against jumping in after anyone who has fallen into a river for fear they too get into trouble; it seems beyond comprehension that passers-by just stood and gawped.

No throwing in of the life rings and not a single person with the gumption to use a scarf or a stick to try and pull the man to safety.

Fancy, not one person stepping up to the plate. It’s just so hard to fathom.

Is it because the population is now so distanced from our brave and practical-minded ancestors?

Is it as simple as children haven’t learnt to swim and do lifesaving classes in as great a numbers as the generations before?

Maybe all the television programmes watching rescues, from air ambulances to hospital emergency rooms, means people live in a parallel sort of universe where somebody else always comes to the rescue. Where there is never any need to step up to the plate.

Personal experience has already taught yours truly not to expect anyone on the streets of York to intervene in an emergency. Waiting for a park-and-ride bus in this supposedly genteel city, a few years ago, a man tried to snatch this five foot-nothing woman’s handbag.

Not a single person helped grab it back or looked up from their phones as it was wrestled off him.

As a society we used to put real value on have-a-go-heroes. As a young newspaper reporter barely a week went by without writing a piece about somebody stepping up to the plate.

It would be interesting to know if people are just plain cowardly custards or there is something else, something that has happened to us as a society, which makes us a nation of people who stop and stare rather than get involved.

Just by chance, while writing this, a photograph of the Princess Royal popped up on the computer screen. Now there’s a woman who steps up to the plate. It was back in 1974, four months after her wedding, that a 23 year-old Princess Anne was travelling back to Buckingham Palace after attending a charity event. A car blocked their way and suddenly its driver pulled out a handgun and shot the young princess’s chauffeur and her security office, as well as a nearby tabloid journalist who - wait for it - stepped up to the plate and tried to intervene.

The gunman, who was planning to kidnap the princess for a £2m ransom, tried to make her get out of the car. Her famously replying “not bloody likely” wasn’t the end of the story.

For a passing boxer, Ronny Russell, stepped up to the plate and punched the kidnapper, enabling the police to catch him.

The final line must go to the late Duke of Edinburgh, who allegedly said “If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she would have given him a hell of a time while in captivity.”

Pity they don’t make them like the princess or her father anymore.