Tragic East Lothian taxi driver dies despite hero…

Tragic East Lothian taxi driver dies despite hero passenger's attempt to save him

The heartbroken family of an East Lothian taxi driver have paid tribute to the 'legend' after his tragic death while out driving.

Alex Watson, 76, who ran Burgh Taxis, was out on a job when he started to get chest pains on the evening of January 9. He later passed away after suffering a massive heart attack.

His grieving family are now looking to track down his hero passenger who battled in vain to save Alex's life. The quick-thinking stranger performed CPR on the dad-of-two after he suddenly took unwell.

Incredibly, the taxi driver for decades managed to pulled over safely despite his catastrophic medical emergency and sat in the back seat as the passenger called an ambulance.

When medics arrived they continued to try and revive Alex for a further hour before being rushed to the hospital but sadly he passed away at 9.40pm.

The well-loved dad's eldest daughter Jackie Edmond, 52, has told what a wonderful man he was and how his life revolved around his grandkids and family.

Alex was born in Musselburgh and was married to Betty. They have two children and a number of grandchildren who are devastated at the loss.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live: "My dad took a massive heart attack, he owned Burgh Taxis and while driving he pulled over as he had a pain in his chest.

"He also had a passenger in the car who did CPR on my dad but unfortunately he passed away.

"We just want to say to the person, a big thank you for trying. We are really grateful and also thinking about how devastating this will have been for them too. We are totally heartbroken."

The passenger travelling in Alex's cab at the time leapt into action and tried to perform CPR on the 76-year old. Alex was take to hospital where he sadly passed away shortly after arriving.

His daughter continued: "He is in a partnership and owns Burgh Taxis. That day he went to work, left at around 8pm and he was absolutely fine.

"Later that night, police came to the door and said he was in resus. He had been driving when he took a pain in his chest and stopped the car.

"He went to the back seat then his passenger did CPR and an ambulance arrived then medics worked on my dad for an hour. It happened in Musselburgh but died at 9.40pm, he is well known in Musselburgh and came from there."

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Work and family were his whole life, Jackie explained: "He loved driving the taxi and worked six days a week full time, his time for coming home was 5.15pm with his tea on the table.

"We asked him to retire but he wouldn’t. He was a typical man - old-fashioned. His focus was his family always worried about us if we were happy he was too in his own way.

"Nobody was allowed to worry about him. Everything was fine with him, he had a sense of humour and when he swore we used to say 'Dad!" and he would always say 'well I was a miner down the out, no airs and graces from me.'

"He did all the school runs and all the kids loved him. He was 76 and didn’t look it at all. He doted on his grandkids and great-grandkids loved going on holiday with his family."

She added: "Don’t get me wrong he was a character but also a legend."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 9.05am on Monday, 9 January, 2023, police were made aware of a man taking unwell on Whitecraig Road, Musselburgh.“The man was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead.“The death is not being treated as suspicious.”

The family are now looking to get in touch with the hero passenger that gave Alex CPR - if you have any information please get in touch at iona.young@reachplc.com