When Mary Grant dislocated and broke her ankle at work, paramedics were struggling to find a way to get her safely to the ambulance.

Mary Grant being rescued by the Countax garden tractor. Photograph courtesy of Debbie Clarke who runs KDW Doggie Day Care

Mary, a senior dog handler at KDW Doggie Day Care in Kelty, Fife, was teaching puppy agility at the centre when the accident occurred on May 16th. There are twenty-five acres where the dogs can run and exercise and she was stranded in a hilly area a big distance from the car park.

Quickly on the scene the paramedics attended Mary and had her strapped onto the wheeled stretcher. The question was, how to get it across three undulating fields to the waiting ambulance?

“Even though she was obviously in a lot of discomfort, she still saw the funny side when she laid eyes on the makeshift rescue vehicle. No air ambulance for her I’m afraid," said Debbie Clarke, KDW’s owner.

Instead, they hitched up the centre’s own Countax 4x4 garden tractor to the trolley and carefully towed her out.

Mary is due an operation and will be in hospital for a short while. She says she’ll remember the day, not for the accident but for being rescued by a garden tractor.