Visiting couple thankful for help after tyre blowout
Two local tradesmen rescued a couple visiting the island when they suffered an explosive mishap on the roads.
John and Pat Leighton feared they might miss their journey back to the UK when they had a tyre blowout along the Rue du Friquet, hours before they were due to travel home. But two men from irrigation specialists DW Lloyd stopped to help and got Mr and Mrs Leighton back on the road.
‘We want to give a big shout out to the two men who did not hesitate to help us out,’ said Mrs Leighton.
‘They know who they are and all I can say is they were our knights in shining armour.’
The couple are regular visitors to the island, but this trip had been tinged with sadness as they were here to attend the funeral of their cousin, Peter Le Sauvage, a keen sportsman who had constructed his own rowing boat-shaped coffin, which was featured in Saturday’s Guernsey Press.
The tyre blow-out occurred on Tuesday.
‘I had manoeuvred to give a lorry extra room and clipped the rock,’ said Mr Leighton. ‘It was like an explosion had gone off and the tyre just ripped open.’
They managed to drive the car a short distance to a bus lay-by at Les Varendes, but it was clear they could go no further, and they did not know what to do next.
‘My first thought was how are we going to get home? We had the ferry booked for the next day,’ said Mrs Leighton.
‘We stood there like numpties staring at the car, but then, after a few seconds, this van with DW Lloyd on it pulled in, two fellas got out and took charge of the situation. They didn’t hesitate.
‘They got our “get you home” tyre on the car within 15 minutes, and we were then able to get to a garage.’
Mr Leighton told one of the kind-hearted men what had happened and how the accident had come about.
‘He said to me “I know that rock”,’ said Mr Leighton.
‘It hasn’t been our happiest trip here and so we found it very touching how quickly people from Guernsey came to our rescue.’
A spokeswoman for DW Lloyd said that the company was pleased its employees had been able to help visitors in distress, but the two men themselves preferred to remain anonymous and allow their good deed to do the talking for them.
