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Appeal to find A14 Good Samaritan lorry driver during heatwave

TOYNE FAMILY Austin Healey carTOYNE FAMILY
The lorry driver protected the Toynes in their 1965 Austin-Healey - pictured in the Eurotunnel earlier in the day

A couple say they want to "personally thank" a lorry driver who shielded them in their classic sports car during one of the hottest days of the year.

Bill Toyne and his wife Jacqui were travelling home on the A14 in Cambridgeshire when traffic came to a standstill on 18 July.

Mr Toyne, 76, said the Good Samaritan "stayed with us for more than two hours, keeping our car in his shadow".

"He was a hero. He understood the situation and never left us," he said.

The couple, in a 1965 Austin-Healey sports car, were making their way home to North Thoresby, near Grimsby, after a two-week holiday visiting their daughter, Emma Morton, in the south of France.

They had just left Cambridge Services at about 12:15 BST before realising the traffic had stopped because of an accident.

"It was just our luck we were travelling back on the hottest day," Mr Toyne said.

"The only air conditioning on our car is the top down. You can't imagine how hot it was when the traffic stood still.

"We had plenty of water with us but we were stuck with the beating sun on my wife."

Google A14 CambridgeshireGoogle
The Toynes were in stop-start traffic on the A14 close to Cambridge services when a lorry driver came to their rescue

Mr Toyne said he decided to find a lorry in the middle lane "to tuck in beside" for shelter from the sweltering sunshine.

"This lorry with a great big 40ft container came up alongside - he gave me a thumbs up," he said.

"That driver never left us - he protected us for two hours.

"He was a hero because I'm confident my wife would have passed out - and no emergency vehicles would have got through.

"He realised our dilemma - it was a nasty experience. He could've ignored us but he didn't."

In a message posted on Facebook, Ms Morton appealed for help to find the lorry driver.

"There were no markings on the side of his truck but dad has the registration - DC21 FBA," she wrote.

"We'd dearly love to thank this driver for his kindness that day else they'd have been in serious trouble with the heat."

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