A bus driver from Carlisle became an unexpected hero when he helped rescue a woman whose car had been destroyed by a tree in a storm.

Darren Johnson, 46, was driving his Stagecoach bus from the city to Dumfries when he noticed a tree had crashed on to a car up ahead.

The tree had plummeted onto the car’s bonnet and smashed the windscreen, near the village of Ruthwell, between Dumfries and Annan. The incident happened during exceptionally wet and windy weather last week.

The female driver escaped with minor injuries.

Darren, of Burgh Road, said: “I was driving the 79 route - the route I normally do last Friday night. The weather was awful. The bus was shaking.

“I noticed the car in front of me getting closer but the brake lights were not on. I could see a tree had come down. I got out to help.

“The woman had her arm out of the window. I asked if she could move and she just asked me to get her out. I had to force the door open.

“If it had been a split second later the tree could have killed her.”

Mr Johnson phoned for an ambulance and a passenger on the bus rang the police.

He said: “There were about six or seven passengers on the bus and they all got off. It happened on a really quiet road.

“We also rang the lady’s husband and he came quickly.

“The farmers nearby were brilliant. They came with their chainsaws and one had a power fork lift and they helped cut up the tree and move it from the road. The road was open again within an hour.

“The lady was very lucky. In my two-and-a-half years driving the bus I have never seen anything like this. I was just doing what anyone would have done in that situation. It just so happened that I arrived first.

“The car was written off. There is no way she will ever drive it again.”

Police Scotland said the woman had a “lucky escape”.

A spokesman said: “Lucky escape for one woman driver after a tree fell on her car.

"Thanks to the local farmers and residents in the area who helped cut the tree up and move it off road.”