A Fife stonemason saved a man’s life on the railway lines in Perthshire when he pushed a car from the tracks before it was hit by an oncoming train.
Harry Marshall, 38, was driving back from a job in Dunning last Thursday around 3.30pm when he spotted the car parked across the level crossing at Forteviot.
Recognising something was amiss Harry pulled over to the side of the road and looked back where he spotted a man in the front seat of the stationary vehicle.
Harry told The Courier: “A female had pulled up in a car behind and jumped out and shouted over to me.
“I told her to dial 999 and went over and talked to the guy.
“There was a train on its way and if it had hit him it would have completely wiped the car out.
“Another man came over and the two of us just started to push the car.
“We just kept pushing and pushing until we got him off the tracks.”
The two men had just managed to get the car to safety when the police showed up.
Harry said: “The police response was unbelievable. The whole response force was there.
“They blocked the whole road off and everything, I take my hat off to them.
“They thanked us for our actions because if the train had hit the car it would have been a massive catastrophe.”
Harry believes it was just luck that put him in that place at that time on April 16.
He said: “The level crossing is fully isolated but we just showed up at the right time.
“People say your adrenaline must have been pumping but I just went into autopilot mode”
Harry was full of praise for the two people with him that day and believes the woman’s call to 999 resulted in the train getting halted down the track.
He also received word from the man whose life they had saved the following day.
“He must have seen my name on the van because he messaged me the next day on Facebook to say thank you and I had a conversation with him,” he said.
Police Scotland confirmed it had sent officers to the scene and that Mr Marshall had helped to get the car off the tracks.
