Asda home delivery driver rescues Queensferry man, 90

A delivery driver was praised for saving the life of a 90-year-old man who had slipped on his driveway and broken his hip.

Keith Turner managed to drag himself to his car in Garden City, Flintshire, and started tapping an SOS signal in Morse code in mid-October.

Delivery driver Sam Speechley, from the Asda store in Queensferry, heard what she thought was "someone in distress".

After three weeks in hospital, Mr Turner is now back home recovering.

"Sam saved my life, she really did, and I can't thank her enough," he said.

"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."

Mr Turner described hearing the van pull up, and trying desperately to get the driver's attention, adding: "I didn't want to press it (the horn) continuously as people may have thought it was the car alarm going off, so I pressed it intermittently so it probably sounded like SOS."

The retired panel beater praised Ms Speechley, saying she chatted to him and distracted him from the pain he was in.

Ms Speechley, 45, described pulling up outside a customer's house in the Garden City area and hearing the toot of 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," she added.

She found Mr Turner lying half on the drive, half in the car, and rushed to a neighbour's house to call an ambulance, as well as his son, Philip.

"At the time he'd suspected he'd broken his hip, as he couldn't move his legs," Ms Speechley added.

"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."

Ms Speechley also called the store to tell them what was going on and they sent another driver to pick up her deliveries so she could help look after Mr Turner.

She stayed with him until Philip arrived after about an hour.

Mr Turner's daughter-in-law 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 Ms Speechley for an Asda service superstar award, said the whole store was proud of her.

"To look after the gentleman for all that time is Sam all over. She's just such a caring person," she added.