A teenage engineer has rescued a charity’s £25,000 machine from being written off by rising tide.
Voluntary lifeboat service Maryport Rescue feared the worst when a hydraulics pipe burst on its Trak Tool vehicle and associated trailer – just as the water levels at Maryport South Beach were rising.
The charity made an emergency call at 8.30pm to local engineering firm Forth for assistance, and 17-year-old hydraulics engineer Luke Glynn, from Seaton, came to the rescue to fix the machine in freezing weather conditions and the dark.
Gary Hampson, deputy operations manager at the charity said: “When the Tool Trak and trailer stopped working, it felt like the worst case scenario as the tide was coming in fast and the machinery cost £25,000, and it would have been completely damaged if it had come into contact with the water.
“We are an independent rescue service which relies on donations from the public, and raising £25,000 to replace the machine isn’t very easy.
“We put out an emergency call to Forth and, within minutes, Luke was at the scene, and he set out to work fixing the problem in zero degrees temperatures and pitch black darkness.
“Nothing was a bother to him even though time was against him and the tide was coming in quicker than we expected. Not only did Luke fix the problem, he stuck around and followed us back to the station to make sure we didn’t experience any further problems.
“He is a credit to the area and to Forth, and we’re so thankful that he gave up his time so late at night, especially when it was as cold as it was, to do us a good deed.
“We can’t emphasise enough the value of his work because it would have been disastrous to Maryport Rescue if we were to be without such a vital piece of machinery.”
Luke said he didn’t hesitate in helping out as he is appreciative of the life-saving work the volunteers at Maryport Rescue carry out.
He added: “I’m just pleased that I was able to help out such an amazing charity. These volunteers go out and save people’s lives in freezing cold temperatures, so I didn’t think twice about helping them out even though it was cold and dark.
“As a company, Forth encourages its staff to support the community and help out local causes and initiatives, and I saw this as a way of giving something back to a brilliant organisation.”
