A YOUNG brother and sister came to the rescue of an elderly woman who collapsed in a Herefordshire wood.

William, 18, and Sophia Hutchinson, 17, helped a paramedic who couldn't reach a casualty needing urgent medical attention at Haugh Wood, near Broadmoor Common, Woolhope.

Paramedic Chris Hughes found his vehicle's path blocked by a locked barrier and was taken to the woman by William in his Land Rover over a steep bank while his sister looked for the keys.

"We keep the keys for the barrier at our house," said their mum, Davina Hutchinson.

"The barriers were locked and the paramedic called to ask for the keys but William could not find them.

"He then drove over a mound of earth to get round the barrier in his Land Rover as nothing else would get round."

William, who works as an underkeeper in Brockhampton, returned to find that Sophia, a student at Hereford Cathedral School, had found the keys.

He then guided the ambulance driver in his Land Rover to pick up the patient.

"He left the paramedic at the scene and drove back to tell the ambulance driver where to go," Davina said.

"I don't know what the ambulance would have done otherwise as it would have been at least a five to ten-minute walk down to where she was," she said.

The patient, who was walking the dog with her daughter, was taken to hospital.