A teenager has been hailed a hero for leaping into action to stop an elderly man’s runaway car.
Euan Lonnen was captured on CCTV at the cafe where he works, dashing into the driverless vehicle to slam on its brakes and avoid disaster.
Two elderly women were passengers in the car rolling towards several customers’ vehicles outside the Highland Farm Cafe in Dingwall.
“I was stood at the door with a customer and we were just having a nice little chat, because I quite like talking, and she looked out the door and said to me there’s a car and it looked like there was no one in the driver’s seat,” he told STV News.
STV News“But the car started rolling. So I went out to the car and my first thought was I’m going to try to angle the steering wheel to go towards the overflow car park but then the car just started speeding up, so I had to jump into the car. Something just told me to get into the car and put the handbrake on.”
The passengers were unscathed, the car barely an inch from a collision.
“My first thought was to angle it to the other car park but when I realised that couldn’t work something inside me just said jump in the car and put the handbrake on,” Euan said.
His bosses, who were away on holiday at the time, have nothing but praise for Euan’s courage.
Kenneth McKenzie, who owns the Highland Farm Cafe with his wife Lesley, said: “He stuck his foot on the brake and stopped with a finger’s width between the car and the car in front.
“The ladies who were in the car, neither of them had time to put their seatbelts on.
“So, he definitely did a really good job.”
Lesley told SV News: “Every day [Euan] is here he helps with the cottages. He’s brilliant but that was just extra special because I think it’s nice to see that everyone else can see how brilliant he is.”
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