A BRAMPTON engineer is ending his 40-year career as a hero after saving the life of a drowning man. BT engineer Traff George plunged into an icy lake to pull out Raymond Rubin after the 70-year-old fell off a bridge in his garden and disappeared beneath t

A BRAMPTON engineer is ending his 40-year career as a hero after saving the life of a drowning man.

BT engineer Traff George plunged into an icy lake to pull out Raymond Rubin after the 70-year-old fell off a bridge in his garden and disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

Mr George, 62, who will retire on December 31 after 38 years with BT told The Hunts Post: "I guess it's a pretty special way to finish my career - you can't really get much more dramatic, so I'm certainly going out on a high."

Mr George, of Pepys Road, had been called to the house in Water Gardens, Wisbech, to repair a pole that had fallen into Mr Rubin's garden, landing on an island in the middle of Mr Rubin's lake.

"We went out have a look at it and then I heard this crash. I turned round and saw that Mr Rubin had disappeared into the water. As soon as I realised, I just dived straight in.

"The water was freezing and there was this thick black sludge at the bottom that kept pulling you down, so I had a bit of a job getting him back to the bank."

Mr Rubin, who walks with a stick and cannot swim, had left hospital just days before following major surgery on his chest. He said he owed his life to Mr George.

"I didn't know what to say to him afterwards, other than a million times thank you.

"There's no doubt that he saved my life because I wouldn't have been able to get out on my own.

"I'd just come out of hospital, and my wife didn't even know I had gone outside. If Traff had not been there I would have died. He was phenomenal," said Mr Rubin.

Since the rescue, which took place last month, Mr George has appeared on the front cover of the BT internal magazine, but said his colleagues were keeping his feet on the ground.

"There have been a few asking me for autographs and so on, trying to wind me up about it. I know I'm not a hero, because I only did what anyone else would do in that situation.

"But I have to say, after a career that I have enjoyed from start to finish, it feels great to end it in such a special way.