Home shopping driver Sam Speechley from Asda sprang into action when she heard someone in distress tap out what sounded like SOS in Morse code on their car horn. When she went to investigate she found 90-year-old Keith Turner who'd slipped on his driveway and had broken his hip, and had managed to drag himself to the car so he could sound the alarm.
Widower Keith, who's now back home after spending three weeks in hospital, said: "Sam saved my life, she really did, and I can't thank her enough. I'd been laying there in the rain and cold for half an hour and if she hadn't come along when she did I don't think I'd have made it. She's a Godsend.
"I heard the Asda van pull up, so I managed to get to the car horn. I didn't want to press it continuously as people may have thought it was the car alarm going off so I pressed it intermittently so it probably sounded like SOS. I was so pleased to see Sam when she came over."
Keith, a retired panel beater, said: "Sam was lovely; we chatted for ages and she kept me distracted as I was in a lot of pain."
Sam, who's 45 and who's worked at the store for two years, said: "I was delivering some shopping to residents when I pulled up outside a customer's house. When I got out of the van I heard someone toot a car horn. It kept going on and it was like a Morse code pattern. It just sounded like an SOS to me; something just didn't feel right.
"I walked down the road to the house in the corner and I saw a gentleman (Keith) lying in his driveway next to his car and he was half way in the car and tooting his horn. He'd left his house and walked over to his car and he'd slipped on the paving slabs on his driveway. He'd dragged himself across the drive to his car, opened the door and started to toot his horn for attention."
She knocked on neighbours' doors to get some assistance and an ambulance was called, as was well as Keith's son, Philip.
Sam said: "At the time he'd suspected he'd broken his hip, as he couldn't move his legs. I asked if I could go into his house and made him a cup of tea, got him a blanket and some cushions. As it was pouring down and freezing his neighbour got two large umbrellas to put over him."
Sam also called the store to tell them what was going on and they sent another driver to pick up her deliveries so she could stay with Keith.
She said: "We just talked about his life; his late wife, railways and Land Rovers. All sorts of things really just to keep him occupied as he was in a lot of pain. I think he was pleased that I was there. He reminded me of my own grandfather and if it was a member of my family in that situation I would have hoped someone would have helped them."
Sam, who has a grown-up son Taylor, stayed with Keith for about an hour until his son Philip arrived.
Later that day, Keith's daughter-in-law Emma got in touch to thank Sam personally and to say he'd been taken to hospital by ambulance and that his hip was indeed broken.
Emma said: "We can't thank Sam enough for what she did. She is amazing. We are so happy that she was there. She never left him at all, she reassured him and was so lovely, caring and kind. She really did go above her job role."
Home shopping manager Nicky Fitzgerald, who has nominated Sam for an Asda service superstar award, said the whole store was proud of Sam.
She said: "To recognise the sounding of the car horn as a sign of distress was just unbelievable.
"To look after the gentleman for all that time is Sam all over. She's just such a caring person. She went above and beyond for the gentleman that day. She even phoned the store so we could rearrange her deliveries so she could stay with the gentleman."
