POLICE officers who helped bring an elderly man back to life after he was found unconscious in a car have been given top awards.

Constables Toby Daniel, Emma McIntyre-Major, Brad Brown and Kyle Denning were returning from an incident late one night when they saw a black Peugeot 2008 had collided with fencing in Little Braxted.

The quick-thinking officers, who were members of the Braintree Local Policing Team, rushed into the vehicle and found the driver had lost consciousness and wasn’t breathing.

They performed CPR until paramedics arrived and the man, aged in his 80s, began to breath again before he was rushed off to hospital.

The man, aged in his 80s, started breathing again and was swiftly taken to hospital for further treatment.

Almost a year on from the incident, the officers have now been awarded commendations for their bravery and heroic actions.

The team were handed their award by Essex Police’s Chief Con, Ben-Julian Harrington during a special ceremony in Chelmsford on Wednesday, May 29.

During the event, members of the public were also handed commendations for helping to detain an armed man during an incident at Thurrock bus station in April last year.

Mr Harrington said: “It brings me great pleasure to host these ceremonies to celebrate ordinary individuals taking extra-ordinary steps to help save the lives of others, protect the vulnerable and keep the people of Essex safe.

“It might be what our officers, staff and volunteers do on a daily basis but their actions are courageous and I take great pride in being able to award them.”

Speaking after his officers had saved the elderly man's life in Little Braxted, Braintree Insp Ian Carter said he too was proud of his team for their life-saving actions.

He said: "These incidents are highly challenging both physically and emotionally.

“In this incident, they acted swiftly and with considerable skill and tenacity which helped save a man’s life.

"They are all an absolute credit to the force, achieving one of the key core policing principles of protecting life.

“The car was found in a rural road and it is very unlikely that the man would have been discovered by anyone for many hours."