A man dubbed a “hero in fluorescent trousers” when he helped a family after their car overturned, has said he is no hero and “just did what anybody else would do.”

Dave Dawson, of Church Lane in Toppesfield, was returning from a fencing job in Feering when Eileen Sizer’s car crashed into copper cables that had fallen from a transit van in The Street, in Gosfield.

The car flipped and landed on its roof, trapping Mrs Sizer, of Long Gardens, Twinstead, and her three young grandchildren - 10-year-old twins Megan and Sophie and their sister Bethany, 2, - inside.

Mr Dawson, 35, who was wearing his bright orange work trousers at the time of the accident, pulled Sophie out of the car before assisting Mrs Sizer and stabilising her head in case she had neck injuries.

But, Mr Dawson, a dad-of-three, insists he is no hero and instead praised the actions of others who stopped to help, several who turned out to be off-duty members of the emergency services.

He said: “You just do what you can, it’s instinct to help.

“I just did what anybody else would do, I’m not a hero.”

See the Halstead Gazette for the full story