'Selfless' police officer wins bravery award for helping stop Whaley Bridge dam collapse

A 'selfless' Derbyshire Police officer has won a bravery award for his work in helping stop the Whaley Bridge dam collapse in 2019.

PC Geoff Marshall was last night (October 12th) named the regional winner of a Police Federation Bravery Award in honour of his actions in August 2019.

PC Marshall volunteered to work on the dam after days of heavy rain sent water raging over the structure's wall at Toddbrook Reservoir.

If the dam failed, billions of litres of water would have hit the local town.

PC Marshall secured himself with a rope while his colleagues passed sandbags down following a huge collapse of part of the wall.

Derbyshire Police say that Marshall's sandbagging work was 'critical' to preventing the entire structure from collapsing.

They said PC Marshall "was the final link in a chain of officers working to place 300 sandbags at the top of the dam wall."

Chief Constable Rachel Swann said: “Geoff’s actions that day were brave and selfless. He placed himself in great danger to protect the town of Whaley Bridge. I am delighted that his courage has been recognised.

“Every officer and member of staff involved in the operation did outstanding work in very challenging circumstances and I am proud of them all.”

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