Motorists dragged a man to safety after he threatened to leap from a motorway bridge.

The man, believed to be aged in his 40s, had climbed over the railings of a bridge over the M602 at Eccles and was threatening to leap 30ft to near-certain death on Saturday afternoon.

Simon Kelly, 32, who works for a security company, was driving out of Manchester when he saw the drama unfolding.

He deciding to step in with another motorist.

He and the other driver who had stopped, Marc Bradbury, grabbed the man by the arms and dragged him back over the railings to safety.

Police, who had closed the M602, took the man away.

Simon, from Monton, said: “I saw the man on the bridge. I pulled up and called the police and took some pictures on my mobile phone.

“I saw him leaning over. I got out of the car and grabbed him with this other man.

“We were saying 'you don't need to do this' and 'it's not necessary'. He couldn't see the other fellow who was on the other side. The other driver grabbed his arm and then I grabbed the other arm.

“The poor man kept saying 'leave me alone – I don't want to be here any more'.

“We pulled him down and told him to take it easy. He was crying. He was absolutely beside himself.

“A psychiatrist who happened to be passing stopped and started speaking to him. The police closed the motorway while all this was happening.

“We just did what we had to do. You have to do something when you see something like that.”

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We received a call that someone was on the wrong side of the bridge at Gilda Brook island at Eccles.

“At 1.15pm CCTV footage showed that the man had been grabbed by civilians – they did a good job. The man was later detained.”