A NEIGHBOURHOOD safety officer has been praised for his bravery and selflessness on the job.

Darren Daniels went through an agonising four-month wait on his own health after saving the life of a known drug user found unconscious in Middlesbrough.

The Neighbourhood Safety Officer for Middlesbrough Council accidentally pricked his finger on a used needle while helping to resuscitate the man in the car park behind Iceland on Linthorpe Road.

Whilst working with a colleague on December 9 last year a man informed Mr Daniels that someone was unconscious and in need urgent of help.

"We ran over and found a male unconscious with a heroin needle next to him," said Mr Daniels. " I asked the other man, a known drug user, to move the needle to a safe place.

“The unconscious man was someone we knew and had supported in the past. He was a drinker and hadn’t taken heroin for a long time as far as we were aware.

“The other drug user offered to give him Naloxone to bring him out of it so we tried but nothing happened. As I’ve gone to put the drug back in its sheaf, it was really dingy and low light beneath the building’s overhang, and I’ve somehow just slightly pricked myself on the discarded needle."

Nurses were on scene to help, and when the ambulance arrived Mr Daniels travelled to the hospital with the unconscious man who was tested for a number of severe viruses on arrival.

Mr Daniels, who was also now at risk, was informed on December 24 that the man whose life he had saved had tested positive for Hepatitis-C. Tragically the man passed away that very same Christmas Eve.

Four months later Darren was tested, and thankfully he had not contracted the virus.

For his actions, following which he declined to take a single day off work - and for always going above and beyond the call of duty, Darren has been named the latest 'Boro Hero' by Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston.

Mr Preston said: “Darren’s story is shocking and frightening but his actions and his attitude are inspiring and thank God it has the outcome it does for him.

“I can’t praise highly enough the work Darren and his colleagues do day-in day-out to keep the public safe and to help the most vulnerable people in our town. He is a true Boro Hero and it’s right we say thank you to him.”