'˜True hero' battles through snow to get Desborough nurses to children's home

A Facebook post published by The Mucky Boot Men on Thursday night read: ‘If anyone who is a nurse, works in childcare, emergency services or anything else along these lines and needs a lift today or tomorrow please send us a message and we will pick you up in our 4x4 free of charge’.

The post has since been shared nearly 1,400 times.

As a result, the man in charge, Ben Atkin, 28, of Northampton, agreed to take 15 people who work in the emergency services sector to work over the course of three days, free-of-charge in his Nissan Navara pick-up truck.

He said: “They always help us when we need them, so I thought why not help them when they need us.

“From last night I’ve done four journeys and I have 15 booked in, in total, until tomorrow afternoon. I had a break at 10am for my breakfast.”

Ben has made four journeys as of this lunchtime, taking mainly nurses and midwives to their jobs.

But he did not think for one moment that his Facebook post would be so popular.

“I thought there would be a lady around the corner who wanted to get milk or something but it’s gone mad. More people should do it really,” he said.

“My wife is at home, she’s on the Facebook page, she texts me and calls me now and again and says ‘pick this lady up’, ‘can you pick this lady up’.”

Ben has already been branded a ‘true hero’ by one woman who manages a children’s home.

Marie Rendell said: “I manage an NHS children’s home for children with complex health needs.

“I had two nurses who were stuck in Desborough, I saw a post on Facebook from a member of the public with a 4x4.

“He went out with no notice and collected them in awful conditions and took them to work, this was at 10.30pm.

“He is getting up at 4am to deliver nurses and emergency service staff to hospitals.

“I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for making sure our children were safe and well cared for in these horrible conditions. What a true hero!”