Wrexham home shopping driver helps elderly customer who collapsed at home

A Wrexham home shopping driver was in the right place at the right time a woman in her 90s collapsed in front of him while he delivered her groceries.

52-year-old Nigel Williams was making his first delivery of the day from the Wrexham store when the elderly woman – who is one of his regular customers – passed out.

Having spent 23 years in the army and knowing how to remain calm under pressure, Nigel knew exactly what to do to help. He called the emergency services, carried her to a sofa, made her comfortable and chatted to her until paramedics arrived.

“The lady is one of our regular weekly customers and when she opened the door I noticed straight away that she’d lost weight since the last time I’d been there,” explained Nigel, who served as a corporal with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

“I went into the house to put her shopping away, like I always do, and I opened the fridge door and you could see the previous weekly order had been building up. It was the same in her cupboards and in the freezer. It was obvious she’d not been eating properly.

“As I was doing that she just collapsed in front of me in the kitchen. I picked her up, took her into the front room and put her on her sofa. She came round and I got her a drink of water and then I called 999.”

After checking her over, medics decided she didn’t need hospital treatment, but her care team was contacted to come and look after her.

Nigel carried on with his deliveries, before calling back later that day to check on the lady to see if she was okay.

He said: “Without a doubt it was lucky that I had been there. If she’d collapsed and no-one was there to help it could have ended horribly for her.

“I’ve been back to see her several times since then to make her a cup of tea and get her a hot water bottle, that sort of thing. She’s a lovely lady, bless her.

“She’s looking better and has put on a bit more weight and is much perkier now. She’s less unstable on her feet now too.

“The thing that I’m chuffed about the most is that this incident has highlighted her care package and she is now getting more frequent visits from her carers. My actions have proved that she needs to have a lot more care.”

Nigel Williams and store manager Shaun Leech

Nigel, who’s worked at the store for two years and lives in Wrexham, added: “I love my job and I love having a chat with the customers, especially the older ones who may not see people from one day to the next. You’ve got to have a natter with them and they love it.”

Nigel is used to keeping his head and being calm under pressure. In 2007, during a firefighters’ strike he rescued a young mum and her two children from a blazing home in White City in London.

He said: “We were always told if it was an electrical fire you don’t go in, but I thought I’m not having that.

“There were young kids upstairs. I kicked the back door in and dragged the freezer which was on fire out of the door and then went upstairs and got the kids and the single mum out.

“I’m a compassionate person. If people are in need of help, I will help them. Simple as that.”

Store manager Shaun Leech says the whole store is proud of Nigel.

He said: “Nigel’s a perfect example of a colleague caring for our customers. We have a lot of elderly customers who are dependent on home shopping and it’s great to see that my drivers are looking after them.

“It’s great that Nigel goes to see her on his days off and on his breaks too and she’s now getting the care that she deserves.”

And home shopping manager Cameron Rushbridge-Burns, who nominated Nigel for an Asda customer award, said: “What he did was incredible. He is a very caring person and will do anything for his customers – that’s just the person he is.

“He’s always willing to go above and beyond.”