A DISABLED Oswestry resident has given his thanks to a young couple who helped him home after his wheelchair ran out of battery when he was doing charity work last week.

Roger Whitting was collecting funds for local charities at the Oswestry Christmas Lights Switch-On last Thursday when the battery powering his electric wheelchair died, leaving him outside with no way to get home.

Jake Jones and Kayleigh Richards were the first people to stop and help Roger, whose wheelchair was only moving slowly because of the drained battery.

Jake and Kayleigh, with help from another person passing by, helped to push Roger back to his home to allow him to recharge the batteries.

The Oswestry Cambrian Rotary Club member was keen to express his thanks to those who stopped to help.

He said: “It was a young couple to start with who stopped when my wheelchair was crawling slowly along the side of the road and the battery was too flat for me to get back onto the pavement.

“I hadn’t noticed the wheelchair was going flat because I was helping with the fundraising at the Christmas lights switch-on, I was having to go up and down Bailey Street quite a lot.

“I had a big battery on the back, and I had a blanket covering me so I couldn’t actually see my own hands and the buttons to control the wheelchair. So I didn’t realise how quickly it was losing power.

“The man had just picked up a meal and his partner was sitting in the car waiting, and they stopped to help me and push me most of the way home before we passed another young man who happened to be a neighbour I didn’t know, so he helped to push as well.

“I was then able to get in the house before my carer was due, so I could plug my chair in to give it some battery.”

Roger said the act of kindness from those who helped makes him feel proud to live in Oswestry.

“There are some really good people in this town,” he said. “I didn’t have to wave the couple down or ask for their help, they just did it off their own backs.

“I did try to keep the battery on to help them push me a little bit, because the chair and I combined weighs around 330kg.

“There is a lot of lovely people around. There were a lot of cars going around nearby and nobody stopped before this young couple did.”

“I’ve been in the chair six years, and this has only ever happened once before, and again I was helped that time by two young people who were out jogging.

“It makes me feel really proud to be from this town.”

Mike Lade, a fellow Oswestry Cambrian Rotary Club member, added: “As a rotary club, we are very grateful to those who helped Roger.”