An eyewitness has hailed a man who helped a struggling life-guard save a swimmer who got into difficulty in an outdoor pool.

The mystery hero, thought to have been with his family, jump-ed straight into the lido at Park Road Leisure Centre in front of worried onlookers last week when a young female lifeguard had trouble rescuing the man.

Witness and Hornsey Lane resident Cypriot Tony Costas, 45, said: “The girl lifeguard did everything she could but this was a big guy who was in the pool. He must have been 6ft 5ins and she couldn’t keep him up.”

He said the man grabbed both the swim-mer and lifeguard and hauled them to safety, the swimmer choking up lungfuls of chlorinated water.

“The guy just dived in. He was amazing,” said Mr Costas. “I didn’t think people like that still existed!”

A spokesman for Haringey Council said that they were looking into the incident

Source: Hornsey journal