A hospital porter is being hailed a hero after managing to catch up with an unlikely thief – a sneaky seagull.

Nick Jack, 59, was called into action after the brazen bird stole the mobile phone of a patient who was enjoying some fresh air outside the QEQM Hospital in Margate.

The gull took the phone up onto the hospital’s roof and dropped it there, standing guard while Nick and his colleagues worked out how best to retrieve it.

The grandad-of-two said: “We were alerted to the problem after a nurse asked for our help, and my colleague Colin and I went to investigate.

“At first we thought we could climb up to get it but there wasn’t a safe route to the roof so instead I went to get a ladder.

“Because of my experience with the fire service I’ve got extensive ladder training so I was confident I would be able to get to the roof.

“I really wanted to retrieve the phone because I could see the patient was very distressed. When someone is admitted to hospital it can be a very worrying time and their phone is like a comfort blanket and their link to their loved ones so I wanted to try and get it back.”

Nick soon came face-to-beak with the thief, but realised the task would not be as easy as he had hoped.

“The seagull was on the roof as if it was guarding the phone, and it was squawking very loudly at me,” began the Westgate resident.

“It was clear it wasn’t going to back down without a lot of protest, but nor was I!

“Eventually it relented and I was able to get the phone and reunite it with its owner, who was very grateful.”

In his previous role as a firefighter, Nick rescued cats, dogs, and plenty of people, but has never been called to retrieve a phone before. His usual tasks at the hospital involve transporting patients and items to different wards and departments.

He added: “It’s certainly not what I expected to be doing when I arrived at work that morning but I was very happy to help and glad the owner and phone were reunited.”