A retiring Bromley London Ambulance Service (LAS) officer, who worked on the IRA bombings, 7/7 terrorist attacks and Steven Lawrence inquiry, has received an award for his 40 years' service.

Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer Russell Mansford was presented with the award by LAS chairman Richard Hunt at a ceremony with 34 of his colleagues in Westminster.

After working on the road briefly, he became a call-taker in the control centre, taking charge of services in Bromley.

He attended the Moorgate train crash in 1971, numerous incidents in the IRA bombing campaign including an explosion at Canary Wharf in 1996 and led operations from the emergency operations centre during the Paddington train crash.

During the terrorist attacks in July 2007, he was the link between ambulance headquarters in Waterloo and COBRA, the Government’s emergency response committee.

He also gave evidence at the public inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1997.

Mr Mansford said: "It was a blessing to work for the London Ambulance Service and very hard to give up. I was lucky to do so much during my career.

"I met a number of cabinet ministers and practically all the royal family. In fact, in 2000, while giving the Queen Mother a tour of the emergency operations centre, I thought at one point she might fall and I put out my arm to catch her.

"Instead I got a telling off for breaching royal protocol. I’ll never forget that."