A BRAVE businessman has revealed how he clung on to a distraught woman who was trying to jump off Croydon Flyover.

Mike Parsons, 50, was driving his girlfriend Slavka Lacy to work last Saturday morning at around 9.30am when he saw the woman climbing over a barrier on the flyover.

The 50-year-old raced to help and got to the distressed woman as she was balanced on a narrow ledge.

Mr Parsons, who owns South Croydon Garage Services, cautiously approached the woman, who was crying and threatening to jump on to Croydon High Street below.

"I started talking to her and saying to come back to the road, that it was dangerous," he said.

"But she was shouting at me to keep back and that she was going to jump. She was crying a lot and saying someone had taken her children off her.

"I tried to comfort her and said we could get them back and help her. I kept saying 'please don't do this'."

When the woman then went to sit down Mr Parsons, from Arkwright Road, Sanderstead, ran forward with Miss Lacy and held her.

They were then joined by two other men, who grabbed her arms.

Mr Parsons added: "We were holding on really tight but her legs were dangling over the side and her top was slipping up while she was slipping down."

A quick-thinking bus driver saw what was happening, evacuated his bus and drove under the bridge so if the woman fell she would only drop about six feet and land on its roof.

After the four rescuers had held her for around ten minutes, police officers arrived. They managed to drag the woman back to the road and she was taken away.

"If she had fallen I am sure she would have died," Mr Parsons said.

"I felt so sorry for her. I don't think I'm a hero or expect a song and dance about it, but I saw her climbing over and I thought I can't leave her."

A police spokeswoman said: "Police were called to Croydon Flyover on Saturday, June 19, at 9.49am following reports of a person standing on the wrong side of the barrier.

"Police and LAS (London Ambulance Service) attended and a woman in her thirties was safely retrieved by officers.

"The woman was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to a secure unit at a south London hospital."