Pregnant woman full of praise for community spirit that drove two people to assist her when she fell ill at a bus stop

A Musselburgh woman is full of praise and chocolate presents for the two people who helped her when she took ill at a town centre bus stop.

Ashley Gray was 15 weeks pregnant when she headed to catch her bus on Good Friday.

After sitting down, she started to feel light headed and sick.

She explained: “My body didn’t feel the way it should.

Ashley sent Ben (pictured) and Matthew a thank you card and a chocolate bar as a thank you for helping her. Ben's children's gloves were in his coat when he lent it to Ashley, and the emergency services put them in Ashley's bag when they put her in the ambulance which led to some confusion when she saw them!

"I knew something was wrong so I lay down on the ground. Then I passed out.

"When I opened my eyes, there was a lovely chap named Matthew who was on the phone.

"He was so reassuring, so lovely, nice and calm.”

Matthew was able to get Ashley’s name, and find out that she was pregnant so he could tell the 999 operator he was on the phone with as Ashley drifted in and out of consciousness.

At this point, Matthew was joined by Ben Griffin, a local who also stopped to see if he could help.

Ben gave Ashley his jumper as a pillow and his jacket as a blanket to keep her warm as she lay on the cold ground.

He explained: “It was right outside the police office so I ran over to the yellow phone to use it.

"Then I saw a police van driving along so I jumped out to flag it down.

"I’m from London so normally, jumping out in front of one of these police vans is not a good idea!”

The police pulled over and instantly came over to help.

Ben continued: “They really took control, they were respectful and really decent.”

Ashley agreed saying: “I wasn’t really aware of what was going on, and when I next opened my eyes, I was surrounded by police officers.

“Bless them, they were so reassuring.

"They were able to chase up the ambulance, and put me in the recovery position.

"Matthew and Ben, all the police, every single one wanted to make sure I was OK.

"If I’d been alone...”

While Ben was leaping in front of police vans and explaining the situation, Matthew had gained Ashley’s permission to use her phone to call her mum and let her know what was happening so Ashley could have her family there.

She was safely taken off to hospital, and fortunately, mum and baby are absolutely fine.

Ashley later sent a card and a bar of chocolate to Ben and Matthew as a thank you.

Ben said: “Bless her heart, I cried. I don't cry about many things but it was such a lovely thing to do.

"She took the time to do something so nice.

"The little one had the chocolate bar in half a second, but the card is pride of place on the mantle place, it’s a little daily boost, a little incentive to do good things.

"We have a good community here.”

Ashley agreed saying: “I take my hat off to Matthew and Ben. They made me feel more relaxed as it was a very scary experience.

"It’s restored my faith in humanity.

"Such a nice, selfless act.

"I go to that bus stop every day for work, and there’s never a soul there.

"It’s funny, Matthew said that he was there to go to the bank, forgetting it was a bank holiday!

"It was so lucky.”

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