Supermarket delivery driver saves 90-year-old after 'SOS' Morse code signal on car horn
A 90-year-old widower was saved by an supermarket delivery driver when he broke his hip - and used his car horn as Morse code.Retired panel beater Keith Turner was left injured when he slipped on his driveway before he dragged himself to his car.The quick-thinking pensioner then used the horn to sound out the SOS message in Morse code in a cry for help.And it was heard by delivery driver Sam Speechley, 45, as she pulled up in her van in the Garden City village in Flintshire, North Wales.Keith was taken to hospital where he spent three weeks with a broken hip before he was finally allowed home.
He said: "Sam saved my life, she really did, and I can't thank her enough. 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. She's a Godsend."I heard the Asda van pull up, so I managed to get to the car horn. I didn't want to press it continuously as people may have thought it was the car alarm going off so I pressed it intermittently so it sounded like SOS. I was so pleased to see Sam when she came over."He added: "Sam was lovely; we chatted for ages and she kept me distracted as I was in a lot of pain."Mum-of-one Sam, who has a son Taylor, went to investigate after hearing the code - and found Keith lying in pain.
She knocked on the doors of neighbours to raise the alarm with an ambulance and waited with Keith for an hour before his son Phillip arrived.It comes after Sam has worked as a home shopping driver from the store in nearby Queensferry for two years.She said: "I was delivering some shopping to residents in the Garden City area when I pulled up outside a customer's house. When I got out of the van I heard someone toot 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."I walked down the road to the house in the corner and I saw a gentleman lying in his driveway next to his car and he was half way in the car and tooting his horn."He'd left his house and walked over to his car and he'd slipped on the paving slabs on his driveway. He'd dragged himself across the drive to his car, opened the door and started to toot his horn for attention."At the time he'd suspected he'd broken his hip, as he couldn't move his legs. 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."
Sam also called the store to tell them what was going on and they sent another driver to pick up her deliveries so she could stay with Keith.She added: "We just talked about his life; his late wife, railways and Land Rovers. All sorts of things really just to keep him occupied as he was in a lot of pain."I think he was pleased that I was there. He reminded me of my own grandfather and if it was a member of my family in that situation I would have hoped someone would have helped them."Keith's daughter-in-law Emma later got in touch to thank Sam personally and to say his hip was broken.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 has nominated Sam for an Asda service superstar award.She said: "To recognise the sounding of the car horn as a sign of distress was just unbelievable. To look after the gentleman for all that time is Sam all over."She's just such a caring person. She went above and beyond for the gentleman that day. She even phoned the store so we could rearrange her deliveries so she could stay with the gentleman."