A former teacher has spoken of how he was minutes from committing suicide, waiting on a railway line for a train to come, after racking up gambling debts of £150,000. 

Former history and Latin teacher Patrick Foster (pictured), 31, now wants to make sure other teachers do not fall into the same position after his addiction spiralled out of control - to the point that he would blow his monthly wage “on a handful of horse races and a football match”, and be forced to take out loans and borrow from friends to get through the month.

“Trying to maintain my gambling on a teacher’s salary of about £30,000 a year was next to impossible, but I was at a boarding school so I had a bit more disposable income,” he said.

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He resigned from his prep school job after seven years due to the effects of gambling on his work life, and after racking up debts of around £150,000, he tried to win it back with one final bet - with a stake of £50,000 on a single horse - and vowed that if it lost, he would kill himself.

Of course, it lost. And Patrick was minutes from death, waiting on a railway track, near Slough, for a train to come - until he reached out to his brother in a text message.

He has since found a new lease of life giving talks in schools around the country about the dangers of gambling (with consultancy Epic Risk Management).

As a former professional cricketer (who was released by Northamptonshire County Cricket Club while still at university), Patrick’s treatment for his addiction at Harley Street was paid for by the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

He said: “My story is an unusual one, but it certainly won’t be the last. I would say there are a lot of teachers who gamble, particularly in the independent sector where people are involved with sport or have backgrounds where they have access to a bit more money.”

A spokesperson for the Education Support Partnership charity, which provides grants to teachers who are in financial crisis and helps them with mental health issues, said its caseworkers typically saw multiple instances of problem gambling within applications for grants every quarter.

“As a charity, we will never judge anyone with a problem addition and will proactively look to support them either internally or through a referral to GamCare,” said the spokesperson.

“Our policy dictates that we can still support such cases with financial assistance, although we will only do so in making direct payment for the intended grant purpose, for example, rent arrears direct to a landlord.”

You can read more about the extent of gambling among pupils and the dangers it poses in this week’s Tes magazine, available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here