Matt Johnson, best known for his stint on Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002, has pleaded with emergency services to help him fix his van after he used it to help save a man’s life
04:56, 17 Nov 2025Updated 05:05, 17 Nov 2025
Matt’s van was damaged in the incident and he is pleading with emergency services to help him resolve the issue (Image: mjohnsonofficial/Instagram)
A hero musician saved a vulnerable man from taking his own life and despite his selfless act leaving him out of pocket he said he has no regrets.
Matt Johnson, from Ewloe, North Wales, appeared in the hit ITV series Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002 after he won a place in the boy band, One True Voice, via a public vote.
Their ‘rival’ girl band in the show were Girls Aloud. But while Girls Aloud went on to become one of the biggest selling girl bands in UK history, One True Voice disbanded the following year.
Singer Matt Johnson has been hailed a hero for saving the vulnerable man’s life(Image: mjohnsonofficial/Instagram)
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Fast forward 13 years Matt writes his own music and has more than 250million streams on Spotify. Away from his love for music Matt has become somewhat of a local hero in Queensferry after his selfless act saved a man’s life last week.
Matt was driving his VW Transporter on the B5129 Chester Road West, in Queensferry, when he spotted the distresses man desperately hanging by his fingertips from a footbridge over the busy road in Flintshire, North Wales.
With just seconds to make a life-saving decision Matt quickly parked his van underneath the bridge and – 20 seconds later – the man dropped onto the roof. Within a few minutes emergency services arrived on the scene and climbed onto his van to help the man to safety.
Matt, 39, posted footage of the incident captured on his dashcam onto Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness for Men’s Mental Health Month.
Popstars the Rivals runners up ‘One True Voice'(Image: Getty Images)
After saving the man’s life Matt’s van was left damaged but his insurance company say he is liable to pay for the damage to his van unless North Wales Fire and Rescue agree to claim on their insurers on his behalf.
Despite potentially being out of pocket following the incident, Matt said: “I would do it again. I do not regret it.”
Writing online the married father-of-three said: “Something crazy happened last week. I was sat at the traffic lights and looked left to see a man hanging from a bridge by his hands.
“There were no emergency services around and I could only presume he was sadly looking to take his life. The drop was high enough to shatter your legs, leave you paralysed or worse. I thought he maybe had a minute left to hold on.
“My VW Transporter is just over 2 metres high, so I decided to park under him to give him a chance if he fell. Within twenty seconds he dropped onto my van. He was clearly in a very vulnerable state.
“The emergency services arrived about three minutes later, climbed onto my van and helped him.”
Hundreds of people have commented on Matt’s post, praising him for his selfless actions that day. Several suggested he set up a fundraising page online to help pay for the repairs to his van.
One wrote: “Mate let me buy you a pint,” while another wrote: “Wow, so distressing. I hope you get the help and support you need too. Absolute hero.”
Matt said that, although his insurance firm, Direct Line, had been ‘amazing,’ the situation is ‘rare’ he is having difficulty sorting the repairs to his van.
He said: “I was hoping the fire service or the police might help with the repair, as once they were on top of my van I presumed they would take responsibility.
“Direct Line have been amazing and have offered to waive my excess and protect my no claims, but it will still go down as a fault on me unless the emergency services offer help.
‘So far, North Wales Police and the fire service have not contacted me once. No update on me, my van or the man. My insurer says this situation is rare and there is no clear process, but they hope the fire service insurance company will help with the repair.”
Direct Line, North Wales Police and North Wales Fire and Rescue were contacted for comment.
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.