Driver woken up to aid passengers

EVENTUALLY, a young man with a lorry drove to the spot where the Frome-Shepton Mallet bus ran into stones from the bridge, which were concealed under the flooded waters of the stream and, with the help of other young men from Leigh-on-Mendip, lifted the young people from the bus into the back of the lorry through the flooded roadway .

Well, that 'young man' made contact with us after seeing himself described in one of the articles about the floods of July 1968 (Torrent swept farm manure into house, July 17).

At the time, Michael Baskett lived in Parkhays, in the village of Leigh on Mendip. He worked for builders' merchant Foote and Bicknell, in Bruton, and happened to have his Austin lorry parked at his house overnight.

Michael, asleep at the time, was roused from his slumbers by someone calling for help to rescue the passengers of the bus which had run into the stones of the demolished bridge.

Michael remembers leaping out of bed and throwing on some clothes before driving his lorry up to the bus from where he helped the five occupants escape.

Fortunately, Michael's house wasn't affected by the flooding but he remembers the devastation in the villages and towns around.

The following day he returned to work and recalled that his boss, on hearing about Michael's heroic rescue the previous evening, was quite displeased at the use of his lorry for something unrelated to his work!

Today, Michael lives in Hanover Gardens, in Frome.