Hero Derbyshire businessman drove cancer patients to hospital for free when '˜Beast from the East' struck

Unsung hero Wayne Cutts, owner of Clowne Landscaping Centre, used his truck to take people to emergency hospital appointments, free vehicles stuck in the snow and get care workers to their destinations.

The 36-year-old and his employees had helped between 30 and 40 people by Friday and had been working 12-hour days - and even put themselves in risky situations to help others.

“It is our way of helping local people,” Wayne told the Derbyshire Times. “If we cannot work at least we can help the locals.

“We are born gardeners. There is no staying in the house for us. We do not want to be in the house.

“We were helping someone stuck on a country lane and we thought we were done. To be honest it was scary.”

The ‘Beast from the East’ wreaked havoc across the county and forced the closure of the majority of schools and dozens of roads.

But that did not stop Wayne and his team from putting on the winter warmers and heading out to give something back to the community.

They took nurses to work, towed motorists stuck in snow, helped care workers and drove cancer patients to hospital.

By Friday they had been working non-stop for three days and were willing to continue over the weekend.

And Wayne even got caught up in a scare himself - but it wasn’t long before he was back on the road. “Somebody crashed into me and smashed my truck up but we are back working again,” he said. “Somebody went into a snow drift and spun their vehicle and went into mine.”

And Wayne and his colleagues rightly came in for a lot of praise on the Clowne Landscaping Centre Facebook page.

Sarah Hodkin wrote: “Thank you so much for taking me and my girls home earlier. We really appreciated it and it was totally unexpected. Thank you once again.”

And Beverley Deighton posted: “Well done you are truly amazing for all the assistance you are giving people.”