A good Samaritan made a 75-mile round trip to help a family he had never met after their car broke down on the drive home from hospital.
Ryan Woodrow, 23, rushed to help Nikia Cowan, partner Donald Martin and their daughter Gia, one after they were stranded at Tyndrum in the Highlands on their way to catch the last ferry from Oban to Mull.
The couple had put a post on social media after they were stuck for more than five hours after a breakdown service let them down.
Ryan, from Dunbeg, Oban, had just put his 18-month-old daughter, Willow, to bed but offered to pick up the family and get them to the ferry terminal.
He replied to their post: “I’m more than willing to come get you if you are stuck.
“I have a car seat in the car already if that’s any good.”
Nikia, who had just had surgery at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, said: “Ryan, who we’ve never met before, very kindly offered to pick us up, and take us to the ferry terminal.
“After a very stressful week, we are so grateful to be back home and so thankful for Ryan and his kindness, especially in today’s world, it’s lovely to see people help others when it’s needed.”
Ryan, whose mum Lorna Cruickshanks died in September, age 61, said: “My mum was always helping people and I always help people when I can.”
The couple’s car broke down as they headed home on Thursday. They called a breakdown service at about 3pm, thinking they’d make the 9pm ferry.
The roadside rescue service promised to be there between 5pm-7pm but Nikia said: “We told them we had a one-year-old and someone who’s just had surgery in the car. They classed us as urgent but they never showed up or even phoned.”
Donald, 31, then posted the his appeal on the Information Oban Facebook page at 7pm, asking: “Is there anyone that’s going to be passing Tyndrum with space for two adults and an infant to Oban, we’ve been waiting for the breakdown service since before three and we need to get over to Mull tonight.”
Ryan, a delivery driver for Campbeltown firm AM Transport, said: “I was just sitting watching telly with the wee one and then, after I put her to bed, I saw it by chance on Facebook. I just thought, I could go down and do that. My partner was at home with the baby, so I went down there straight away.
“I left my house at 7.20pm and we left Tyndrum at 8.05pm and we got to Oban at 8.50pm, the ferry was due to leave at 9pm and the ferry crew were willing to wait until 9.15pm.”
Handyman Donald said: “The breakdown service contacted me at 8.30pm that night saying they were trying to assign someone, I think it’s a bit of a joke, there is not a chance of us staying with them, they let us down severely.”
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