A pharmacy technician is singing the praises of Staffordshire Police – after two officers rescued her stricken car. Hope Edwards was heading from her Tunstall home to Hope Street, in Hanley, to start her 9am shift this morning.
But the 23-year-old found herself stranded on Sampson Street at around 8.30am while trying to reach a car park. Inexperienced with driving in the snow and worried about making it to work on time, Hope soon became upset and overwhelmed. Luckily, the police were able to come to her aid.
Hope said: “This morning has just been abysmal. I’ve seen cars driving the wrong way down the one-way. It’s just been crazy. I thought I’d make it all the way there because I live on a bus route so the roads were completely fine most of the way. But then, when I got to Sampson Street to try to pull in to the work car park, I got stuck.
“Then I got really, really stressed because the snow was so thick and the road was not gritted. I really struggled. I tried everything. I tried reversing it back onto the main road and going a different way, I tried just leaving it on the kerb and walking, but nothing was working.
“I was one of the first people to attempt going up that road today. I spent about 15 minutes struggling. I started to get really upset and stressed after a while – but then I saw the police pull up behind me. They got out of the car to ask me if I was okay.
“When they asked me how I was doing, I just sort of broke down. I said I was really struggling and that I’d never driven in snow before. I told them I was worried I wouldn’t make it in time for work.
“So the policewoman came up to me, and she was so nice. She said, ‘I’ll drive it for you’, and she got in and drove it up the hill while the policeman pushed the car from behind. They pushed it all the way up Sampson Street and into the car park for me, so I could get into work.”
Now Hope is eager to express her gratitude to the ‘heroic’ passer-by police officers.
She added: “They were really, really lovely. Absolutely amazing. They did so well in calming me down and getting the car up the hill and I just couldn’t be more grateful. If I could speak to them again – now that I’m not completely stressed out and in tears – I’d just say thank you. It’s amazing work that you do on days like this. I think people really appreciate your presence, because I felt so reassured knowing that the police were helping me. They were just in the right place at the right time, and I just really appreciated what they did for me.
“I’m a little bit worried about getting home tonight because the car park is like a thick blanket of snow. But I’m hoping it should be okay if it starts raining later. I feel a lot better now that I’ve got back to work and everything’s all good.”