Wha's like us... Andrew Rennie

'I DON'T think I'm a hero – I just did what anyone else would have done. All I did was answer a call for assistance. You're never sure when you're going to be grateful yourself for someone's help."

Those are the words of farmer Andrew Rennie, who was called from his bed by the fire service in the early hours of a November morning to help a woman in fear of losing her life.

Arriving without any hesitation at a rescue scene in his tractor, the 41-year-old was asked to edge across a road near Turriff, Aberdeenshire, that had been turned into a torrent by floods to reach Helen Catto, whose car had been swept away and was lodged against a bank.

In the dark, the water had already reached window level, and Catto, who had alerted her son by mobile phone, was suffering from hypothermia. With firefighters hanging on to his tractor, Rennie went to the rescue, not knowing whether it would be swept away. They plucked Catto to safety and now Rennie is in line for a top bravery award.