Emma’s quick thinking puts the brakes on runaway car

Emma Johnston had been waiting for her parents outside Diamond’s Newsagents on the evening of January 18 when she noticed a vehicle moving across the street but with no-one behind the wheel.

“I could see this car moving as if it was reversing out, the way you would reverse out at an angle, but then I noticed there was nobody driving,” said Emma.

“It was going downhill and I thought it was moving pretty quickly. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop it so I knew I had to get somebody strong enough who could”.

The Cambridge House ‘A’ level student ran into the shop and got a quick response from owner, Eugene Diamond who sped outside and managed to physically stop the locked car which was headed for a collision with a wall.

Said Emma: “When I told people at school everybody was so shocked that such a thing could have happened.

“When I saw the car and saw there was no driver I didn’t think about it - I just knew I couldn’t stop it and that I had to get help”.

Her mum Heather, said she and Emma’s dad, Ian, were both proud of their daughter’s quick thinking and speedy response to a potentially hazardous situation.

“As soon as we picked her up, she said ‘you’ll never guess what just happened!’ It was all Emma could talk about.

“She did the right thing not going out into the road herself,” said Heather. “It was dark and she was wearing black and she also knew she wouldn’t have been able to stop the car herself, so she went and got help.”

Mr. Diamond had nothing but praise for the quick thinking youngster.

“Emma spotted the danger immediately. Without her quick wits a lot of damage could have resulted.”