Have-a-go hero Graham Wheatley has received a letter of thanks from South Yorkshire police after rescuing more than 40 people in the flood-hit city centre of Sheffield this summer.
Graham (57) was working on our Central Riverside project in the City when the River Don burst its banks and water flooded into the city streets.
Quick thinking Graham drove into the fast-rising waters on a forklift to help as many people as possible.
Desperate people were carried to safety by Graham, a former soldier, who has worked for B&K for 10 years.
Modest Graham explained" I didn’t really think at the time. I just knew that I could help people with the machine and so I drove backwards and forwards as many times as I could. People were hanging onto the sides and at one point I had three children on my lap.
"I was just in the right place at the right time."
Graham’s actions have received praise from many people who know him and from his local newspaper, the Mansfield Chad, which asked readers to vote on whether he should be honoured for his life-saving heroics. Seventy-five per cent of readers said that he should.
Now South Yorkshire Police – whose motto is Justice with Courage – has written to Graham commending him for his bravery and thanking him for saving lives.
"It was very nice of the police to write and thank me and I am very proud of myself. But I just did what anyone else would have done in the circumstances," added Graham.
