A 12-year-old boy demonstrated astonishing bravery and presence of mind when he took control of his mother's car, steering it to safety at 60mph after she passed out at the wheel.
A Routine Journey Turns Critical
Zac Howells was accompanying his mother, Nicola Crump, 37, on a 110-mile trip from their home in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, to Wellesbourne Airfield in Warwickshire last Saturday. The pair had set off at 5.30am, planning to stop for breakfast on their way to a Christmas market.
However, the journey took a terrifying turn as they approached Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. Ms Crump, a support worker, began to feel "really hot" and unwell. She managed to pull her MG HS onto the verge of the A40 dual carriageway and activate her hazard lights, but with no proper hard shoulder, more than half the car remained in the live lane.
"I could feel myself going, I was in buckets of sweat," Ms Crump recalled. "I said to Zac: 'I'm going, I don't feel well.'" The last thing she remembered was a lorry passing before she fainted at approximately 6.10am.
Calm Under Extraordinary Pressure
As Ms Crump lost consciousness, her foot pressed on the accelerator, causing the car to accelerate to around 60mph (97 km/h). With his mother unconscious, Zac calmly leaned across from the passenger seat.
Displaying incredible composure, the schoolboy took the wheel and steered the moving vehicle across the carriageway onto a grassy central reservation. He used the bumpy grass and a barrier to slow the car down before bringing it to a stop and turning off the engine.
"He seemed to be so calm," said Ms Crump. "He turned the engine off because there's a stop-start button on my car and when the police needed the satnav he turned it back on to give them the road. It was such quick thinking, it's incredible."
Emergency Response and Aftermath
Once the car was safely stopped, Zac immediately dialled 999 and clearly relayed their location on the A40 to emergency services. He remained calm throughout the ordeal, even checking his mother was breathing by watching her belly move.
Ms Crump was unconscious for around seven or eight minutes. She awoke disorientated, asking her son if they had crashed. "Zac is my hero, he saved both our lives," she stated. "But he's very modest about it and doesn't know what all the fuss is about."
Miraculously, neither Zac nor his mother was injured. The car sustained damage but was not written off. Ms Crump was found to be suffering from low blood pressure and has been referred to a cardiologist for further tests before she drives again.
West Mercia Police were so impressed by Zac's bravery and the calmness heard on the 999 call recording that they have invited him to their headquarters outside Worcester to receive a certificate for his actions.
Reflecting on the incident, Zac said: "I was really scared but I knew I had to do something." His mother added: "He literally saved our lives and who knows who else's lives. Thank God he thought so quickly and was so brave because we both could've died."
