Two brave teenagers had to steer a car to safety when the older boy's mother lost consciousness behind the wheel. Catrin Williams was driving her 13-year-old son Hari Thomas and his friend Dylan Pritchard-Evans back to their home near Cardigan after football training last year at Swansea City's academy when she told Hari she was feeling ill.
They were in the fast lane of a busy M4 near junction 45, in pitch-black conditions on a winter evening, when Catrin passed out. Thinking quickly, Hari leaned over and started steering the car, with Dylan instructing him from the back seat.
"Hari took the wheel and I told him to put the hazard lights on," Dylan told WalesOnline. "I wasn’t really focusing on the cars outside around us, I was just focusing on the people inside. At the time, it didn’t seem so mad, but saying the story out loud it seems unreal."
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Hari, though, kept his cool. He said: "I was just thinking ahead to what could happen, focusing on the road and listening to what Dylan said, taking on board what he had to say."
The boys had to navigate across from the fast lane to the hard shoulder, through lanes of busy traffic. "I didn’t look at the wing mirrors," Hari said. "I just looked back towards Dylan to see if there was a light from a car right behind us. Dylan put his hand out the window to wave someone down, but people were just tooting the horn at us and didn’t know why we were going over so quick and stuff."
They drove for around a mile and a half before they managed to safely get to the car shoulder, where they tried slowing the car down with the handbrake. Eventually they did and managed to wave down a passing driver, who happened to work at the Swansea academy where they had been training. The police were called along with Hari's dad Martyn and soon arrived.
This whole time, Catrin was unconscious. She told WalesOnline that when she woke up, she "didn't really know what happened. All I remember was a policeman next to me - I didn’t know what had happened then," she said. "Only afterwards, when they had taken me to Morriston and Martyn came, he explained what happened."
To this day, Catrin isn't sure what caused her to lose consciousness and has "no recollection of anything" after telling Hari she felt ill, but she knows how proud she is of Hari and Dylan. Recalling the incident, Dylan said: "It didn’t really feel real at the time, it was just afterwards that I was shaking a bit thinking ‘I could have died’ - but then, Hari saved our lives, didn’t he?"
More than a year after the incident, which took place on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 Dylan and Hari - now 13 and 14 respectively - have been nominated for a St David Award, the national awards of Wales which recognise people who have done extraordinary things. Alongside other nominees in categories including business, community spirit and sport, the boys have been nominated for their bravery.
The nominees were introduced by First Minister Mark Drakeford at a ceremony in the Senedd on Thursday, March 9. Announcing the shortlist, Mr Drakeford said: "I am proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the awards and this year’s incredible finalists, some who have shown extraordinary acts of bravery and determination. We are very fortunate they call Wales home."
Hari told us: "It’s good to be up for such a big award and I’m really proud of myself." The winners will be revealed at a ceremony at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff on April 20, 2023.
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