Home shopping driver Ian climbs through window to rescue disabled customer

When home shopping driver Ian Hickton heard one of his regular customers in Brighton shouting for help he quickly climbed in through an open window to come to his rescue.

Sixty-two-old Ian has now been nominated for an Asda service superstar award for his quick-thinking, with Philip Derbyshire, manager of our Brighton Hollingbury store, saying: "Ian has been an absolute superstar and a potential lifesaver. It was an absolutely fantastic response to an emergency. Well done."

When Ian arrived at the house and rang the front doorbell he heard the customer acknowledge it, but then he didn't arrive at the door.

Ian waited and waited but still the gentleman didn't appear so he checked around the outside of the property.

Ian, who joined Asda less than a year ago, said: "I saw a window was open and shouted through if the customer needed help and he said he did.

"I then asked if I could climb through the window, which was about at eye level for me.

"It was a struggle, but I managed to pull myself up and get through. I surprised myself to be honest.

"I found the gentleman on the floor between two rooms. He'd fallen and his walking frame had landed on top of him.

"He only has the use of one arm so there was no way he could have managed to push himself up and onto his feet."

The customer had managed to activate his Carelink SOS button and someone was en route to attend to him.

Ian, who has first aid training from a previous job, checked to make sure the customer hadn't broken anything and then got him comfortable.

He then brought his shopping in and put it away while they waited for the care team.

Ian, who has recently moved to our Eastbourne store which is closer to his home, said: "Thankfully the gentleman was okay. He was very grateful, but I just did what anyone else would have done."