I don't see myself as a hero says gran who saved toddler from runaway car

A HEROIC villager who pulled her granddaughter from the path of a runaway car has urged motorists to double check their handbrakes.
Three-year-old Lilly-Joe Alden was on her balance bike last Monday making her way to nursery in Cockfield alongside her grandmother, Katrina.
As they walked up Front Street they looked up to see a silver Ford Mondeo careering into their path with no one behind the wheel.
Luckily, Ms Alden grabbed the youngster in the nick of time before the car came to rest at the foot of a tree.
She said: “It knocked into a lamppost and then I noticed it was turning into the junction. I looked again and saw there was nobody in the car.
“I just grabbed her to the side and away from the bike – we just had to get out of the danger zone.
“When what had happened registered, I started shaking and going into shock.”
The silver car had been parked up outside Cockfield Workingmen’s Club when it is thought its handbrake failed at about 10.30am.
Whitworth pharmacy manager Ali Almamouri was at work when the drama unfolded. He said: “It was a typical busy Monday. It’s not uncommon to hear a lot of voices outside but this was different.
“We heard a lot of shouting before someone put their head around the door and told us someone had nearly been run over.
“There was a woman in distress and she was shaken – at first we weren’t sure whether there was anyone in the car.”
Staff and villagers came to the aid of the pair – offering Ms Alden a lift home and taking Lilly-Joe onto nursery.
“It was a freak accident – she was shaken at potentially losing her granddaughter and the kid was unscathed,” said Mr Almamouri.
“If anyone should be getting praise in all this it’s her – she is the real heroine.”
Ms Alden looks after Lilly-Joe full-time because her daughter suffers from a form of epilepsy. The 44-year-old revealed it wasn’t the first time the pair had escaped a brush with a runaway vehicle.
She added: “We normally stand right where the bus went into the Halifax in Darlington. But that day we didn’t go to the bank and we walked around the corner for a sandwich. It just shows you how life is a precious thing.”
Parked cars have presented persistent problems outside Cockfield Primary School leading to a pupil-led patrol campaign.
In the wake of the accident, Ms Alden warned drivers to make doubly sure their handbrakes had clicked into place.
She added: “Half an hour later it could have been an awful lot worse. Kids coming out of school and down that hill wouldn’t have seen it coming.
“The kids don’t have a lollypop lady – it's something I’d not really noticed until now.
Ms Alden said Lilly-Joe’s awareness to stop at the kerb had saved her from riding out of reach.
“Normally I freeze and scream every time a bairn hurts themselves but you just do it – you know danger is staring you in the face,” she said.
“I don’t see myself as a hero – it’s something you just do.”