Derbyshire mum thanks kind stranger who helped her free 11-week-old baby from boiling car after locks malfunctioned

On Monday, September 12, Hannah Bagshaw was about to go into Home Bargains in Clay Cross with her 11-week-old son Arthur, when her car locked itself – leaving her keys and Arthur trapped inside.

She said: “We’ve had this 22 plate Volkswagen T-Roc for just over a month. I was getting Arthur’s pram out of the boot, and I had put the keys on the ledge of the boot. As I pulled his pram out, I left the keys on the ledge and shut the door, and for some reason the whole car locked up.

“I couldn’t get into the car and Arthur was still in there. My house keys were on the keys in the car as well, and my partner was on a job in Nottingham around 40 minutes away.”

Hannah said that the car soon began to heat up – and there was some confusion with the emergency services when she tried to contact them.

“Because the windows were shut, the car was getting hotter and hotter, and I rang around everybody I could.

“I then rang 999 and I didn’t ask for a specific service. I said my son was stuck in the car and we couldn’t get him out, and the operator put me through to the police, who then said it was a fire brigade matter and they didn’t know why I was put through to them.”

Hannah then spotted Steve Brannigan in the car park, and asked him to help rescue Arthur – and he duly stepped in without any hesitation.

She said: “I saw this big burly bloke and asked him to smash my window. He tried with his elbow first and that didn’t work, he then tried with his steel toe boots and that didn’t work either.

“He then went down to the bank at the side of the shop and got a massive stone and chucked that at the window. It bounced off the first time and then he finally managed to get a crack into the window and get it open.”

Hannah said that Arthur was boiling hot when Steve got him out of the car – but bounced back quickly from the initial shock.

“Arthur was absolutely dripping, he was red-hot. Steve had blood dripping down his head from where he had thrown the stone and some glass had bounced back and hit him.

“It was terrifying – it was pretty cool outside but when we pulled him out he was red-hot. If it had been one of those hot days we’ve had recently – I don’t even want to think about it to be honest.

“He was in shock when he came out, because the car had been rattled around that much and all that glass had been broken. Then he just started screeching his head off, so I knew he was alright.”

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Hannah thanked Steve for jumping in to help her free Arthur – and said she could not imagine what the situation would have been like without him.

“I don’t know what we would have done if Steve hadn’t been there. My partner was on the way back cause I’d rang him in a panic, but it would have been ages before he had got there from Nottingham.

“I was hysterical and I was really glad that Steve was there. I was stuck because I couldn’t really leave the car with Arthur in there, so I didn’t want to leave where I was, so I was sort of waiting around for someone to help me.

“I’m just really grateful for Steve – his partner was really nice and they have three kids of their own, so he probably would have panicked in that situation too – I think he understood how I was feeling. I’m really grateful he was there because I was stuck on my own, and it’s my first baby, so it was scary.”

Modest Steve said he was happy to help.

“You and your adorable son are more than welcome. I was glad to help as long as you’re both ok thats all that matters,” he told Hannah.