Driver carries shopping to customer's house even after skidding on black ice

Even after skidding on black ice and bumping his van so it was temporarily out of action, home shopping driver Mason Masters made sure his last customer of the day still got her essential groceries – helping to carry them to her home three streets away.

Mason, who's only worked at our Horwich store for a few weeks, was praised by mum-of-two Colette Hayes, who took to Facebook to hail him as a "true hero".

She said Mason had phoned her to say that on the way to her house – which was his last drop of the day – he'd unexpectedly hit black ice and couldn't complete his deliveries by road.

Collette said: "I walked up with the kids, carrier bags in hand braving the ice to find his van had crashed into a telegraph pole. Even after helping me pack the bags of shopping he still offered to walk back and carry them all the way to my door.

"Mason insisted on helping to carry them back, but me being the independent single mum, I was like, 'no no its okay, honestly' as there was only three bags – but then I accepted the offer of help as three heavy bags on icy paths is so much harder than I thought.

"What a hero you have at Asda. He was such a love helping out even though he would have been shook up as he said it was the first crash he'd ever been involved in!

"He showed such commitment and professionalism in a job we all take for granted and which is so essential to millions of people."

"He actually kept apologising, bless him! Honestly, if there is a gold standard to which companies wish that employees would reach he took it above and beyond!"

Twenty-three-year-old Mason said: "I don't think I'm a hero at all. I just did the right thing. I didn't want to see the lady go without her shopping.

"I lost traction on the ice, as it was extremely slippy. I've never had an accident before, but I was absolutely fine, not even a scratch.

"I phoned up my supervisor to tell him whet had happened, then called the customer. I helped her carry the shopping to her house as some of it was pretty heavy.

"I love my job, it's perfect for me. I love meeting interesting people."

Online support manager Mark Batty said everyone at the Horwich store was so proud of Mason's attitude.

He said: "He hit sheet black ice and couldn't do anything about it. These things happen. After making sure the area was safe, his concern then was to make sure the last customer on his van got her shopping.

"It was overwhelming how nice the comments were from the customer. I showed them to Mason and said to him that he needed to be proud of what he'd done that day.

"You can teach a lot of things and train people on how to deal with stuff, but prioritising your customers over yourself is something you cannot teach. I'm proud to have colleagues like that in our department."