A GOOD Samaritan rescued three vehicles stranded in snow in the Lammermuir hills as Storm Ciara struck the county... only to then need rescuing himself!

Dale Rodger, 25, of Lammerview, Tranent, had posted on Facebook that he was happy to help others in his Mitsubishi L200 Trojan.

He responded to one request to pull out a stranded vehicle on the B6355 road to Duns, which was closed later the same day after a council gritter also went off the road and became stuck in snow drifts.

Dale was able to pull out three vehicles from the snow, helping two women, a man and children all get on their way home, before he got stranded himself.

He told the Courier: “I put up on Facebook [on Monday] I was happy to pull people free if they’re stuck.

“A guy ran his car off the road just past Gifford. I messaged [on Tuesday morning] and picked him up to go and pull him free. He was completely off the road and it took a fair bit of force.

“Whilst I was helping him out, a couple more people went up past us. I spun around when he was free and headed back up the hill.

“I managed to pull one woman free who was stuck sideways after trying a three-point turn and getting her rear end launched up the embankment, taking her back wheels off the ground. I pulled her sideways to get her pointing down and she was free.

“The next woman was determined to keep going ahead but I said I’d only help them down.

“This lady had her kids in the car and was trying to get home but saw sense when even I started slipping on the ice.

“She said she thought another car was just in front of her, so I helped her down then went back up once more. By this point it was a full-on blizzard with about three metres of visibility.

“I reached out to the police non-emergency number to make them aware I was there; they let the council road team know and sent a car out to check on me.

“I also contacted a local farmer, who came up in his tractor to get me; he didn’t dare tow me out because even he barely made it!

“The tractor took me down to the police car, which took me to Gifford where I met a couple of friends in their pickup trucks.

“We went back along the road to see if we could make it up. One of them walked to find my truck but couldn’t see it so gave up after 15 minutes walking up the hill.”

Dale managed to get his vehicle free yesterday (Wednesday) morning with the help of a plough but had to carve his car out of the snow.

He said: “I was laughing about it more than anything, it’s irony.

“I’m glad the others got out; from what the tractor driver tells me, there was another car about 100m further ahead – the one I was heading for.

“I’m gutted I never managed to get them out but was never too worried since people knew where I was and I was warm, dry and had food. I could have spent the night there.

“Thank you to the local farmers who took me away and pulled the car out, and the police for checking I was OK.”