A heroic jogger who rescued an unconscious man from a canal has been rewarded for his bravery by an ambulance service.

Paul Orange, from Rickmansworth, was given the public recognition award by London Ambulance Service Chairman Richard Hunt MBE at a ceremony in Westminster on Wednesday, April 29. 

The 42-year-old climbed into the Grand Union Canal and rescued William Mallison while he was out jogging on Thursday, September 18.

One firefighter told the marketing manager, “another 15 seconds and the guy would have been dead”.

An unknown schoolboy who was also walking along the towpath called the emergency services and together, the pair managed to lift the man, believed to be in forties, out of the water and put him in a recovery position.

Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Ian Wilmer, who nominated Paul for a public recognition award, said: “Without Paul’s prompt intervention, the patient certainly would have died.

He added: “Paul stayed with the patient until help arrived and informed the emergency services of what happened. The patient was so seriously ill he required sedation and it was a significant distance down the tow path with no vehicular access making this quite a difficult job.”

The London Ambulance Service VIP Awards is an event to commemorate the hard work and dedication of service staff and members of the public.

After the episode, Mr Orange told the Watford Observer: “I was just running along the canal and saw something in the water, which at first I thought was a bit of rubbish thrown into the canal.

"Once I realised it was not and it was a chap laying face down in the water and unconscious, I started to dial the emergency services and while I was doing this, a schoolboy on his way to school made the call "While he was doing that, I climbed into the canal and got the guy's head above the water."