Swindon police officers Steve Harding and Ruth Abbott Picture: SIOBHAN BOYLE Ref: 76831-17POLICE saved the day when a bride was in danger of not getting to the church in time.
With blue lights flashing and sirens blaring, two Swindon officers stepped in to give the bride and her father a lift in a squad car after their Rolls Royce broke down.
Swindon officers PC Steve Harding and WPC Ruth Abbott had just been on a routine call-out and were returning to the police station in their Honda Stream patrol car on Saturday when they came across the unusual emergency.
They were on Great Western Way at about 12.30pm when they saw a man dressed in a chauffeur's uniform waving them down.
The Silver Shadow Rolls Royce had broken down on the way to the wedding service.
The officers found a panicky bride and her father in the back worrying that they would not make the ceremony in time.
The bride, who did not want to be named, was getting married at the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Swinley Drive, Peatmoor.
PC Harding said: "We stopped to make sure that they were okay, and we were really surprised to find the bride and her father in the back biting their nails that they would never make it on time.
"We just knew what we had to do and that was to get them to the church on time.
"There were a few blocked up junctions on the way, so we turned on the blue flashing lights so that we could get through them with no fuss at all.
"When we got there, you could see all the guests look very shocked to see the bride arrive in a flashing police car, but we soon assured them that everything was all right."
In the end they arrived at Kingdom Hall just 10 minutes late.
Two days later, the bride's father walked into the Swindon central police station to deliver a box of chocolates and thank the two officers for saving the day.
"This is the type of thing that a policeman only gets to do once or twice in their careers," added PC Harding.
"At the end of the day, you know that this kind of good service really makes a difference to people's lives and I wish them all the luck in the world for their marriage."
Jamie Hill
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