Martin Langlands
When he saw a family car smash into a motorway central reservation, Martin Langlands risked his life to bring the terrified parents and their children to safety.
The Royal Navy Petty Officer was driving home at 10pm with wife Claire, 24, when a car overtaking him on the M5 suffered a blow out. The couple watched in horror as the car spun out of control. Martin, 26, slammed on his brakes and pulled on to the hard shoulder.
With no thought for his own safety, he ran across the busy motorway - in darkness with cars passing at 70mph - to get to the Khan family who were stranded in the outside lane. "I quickly realised I had to do something or it could be bad for them," Martin, from Yeovil, Somerset, says."There was a lot of debris and smoke. The mum was standing by the car with the baby in her arms looking shocked. My first thought was to get them away from the middle of the motorway, so I grabbed them and guided them across the road where my wife was calling an ambulance."
Then Martin ran back across the motorway to help dad Darius and his three-year-old son, who was still in the back of the car. "I grabbed the dad who was standing by the driver's seat staring, and told him I would get his son," says Martin. "Then I leaned into the car and said, ‘Your daddy is just there and you're going to come with me'. "I picked him up and we went back across the road to his mum."
Seconds later, another car smashed into the space where the toddler had been sitting. Then, three more cars piled into the wreckage completely destroying the Khans' vehicle and also crashing into Martin's own car.
"Whenever I go on the motorway I get flashbacks to that night," says Martin, who has been in the Navy since he was 16. Darius Khan says his family will be forever indebted to Martin for his actions.
"He stopped when everyone else was just driving past," he says. "Our stuff was all over the road and people were driving over it at 70mph. "I'd hit my head on the dashboard and my wife was in shock. When she stepped out of the car, another one hit us and she dropped the baby into the road. It was terrifying. "I don't know what would have happened if Martin hadn't been there."
Andy Pullen, head of roads policing for Avon and Somerset Police, says, "Mr Langlands risked his life to save a family who were in grave danger. "Given what happened to their car after he took them to safety, there is no doubt as to the severity of the situation."