Modern-day Good Samaritans stepped in to help a homeless man who was bleeding heavily at Stevenage railway station last night, and may have saved his life.

The medical knowledge of a passing teenager – one of two strangers to stop and help – proved crucial in stopping the bleeding, with paramedics later taking the man to hospital in a critical condition.

James Kelly, 19, told the Comet he was walking home last night when he saw the man on the floor near the station ticket gates, with people around him.

“We just got some pressure on the wound,” said James, from Stevenage, who is training to be a paramedic.

“Everything was soaked in blood. I got all the details to the paramedics.”

The incident provided a real-life test for James, who works in IT support and has been doing his medical training for three years. He is only a full driving licence away from being a paramedic.

The other stranger, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he had got off his train home to find the man bleeding out.

“After about five minutes of reliance on my minimal medical knowledge, a 19-year-old kid turned up and sorted it – stopped the bleeding and the guy survived,” he said.

“Paramedics arrived after 20 minutes and fixed the guy up better. They cut his trousers and he was really upset about that as they were his only trousers.

“Having a guy bleeding out while on your lap is harrowing – it’s got to me a bit.

“The guy had injected something called ‘snowball’, a mix of heroin and cocaine. Something went wrong and there was massive bleeding. I could have put my thumb in the hole.”

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said they were called at 10.51pm to reports of a man with serious bleeding at Stevenage railway station.

A rapid response vehicle and an ambulance officer and crew were sent to the scene, where they administered treatment to the man – who was conscious and breathing.

They afterwards took him to the town’s Lister Hospital in what the ambulance service described as a “critical condition”. His current condition is not known.