A kind railway worker drove a group of stranded girls 74 miles home for Christmas. The hero driver, known only as Tony, saved the trio after they missed the last train due to a delay, reports CorkBeo.
The evening began in good spirits for Cara Ní Chofaigh, a student at the University of Galway, who was heading home for the festive break. She then bumped into her former housemate and a friend on the train leaving Galway on December 20 .
However, their joyous spirits were soon dashed when they discovered that signalling delays had caused them to miss their next train. Unfortunately, for the group it was the last possible way home to Killarney.
Cara said: "We were outside Limerick junction when the train stopped and there was an announcement saying there were signalling delays for five minutes, then the same announcement came after ten minutes, then fifteen before we pulled into the station.
"The conductor asked us where we were going and when we told him Killarney he said we had no chance of making our train in Mallow, so we should go talk to the people inside"
The three women were presented with the option of getting a bus to Tralee and then a taxi to Killarney. However, this would not only have been expensive but wouldn't have got the girls to Killarney until close to 1 am. As they were weighing up their very limited options an Irish Rail employee came forward and offered to drive the girls to Killarney in the company car.
Cara said: "I was so upset and then he just came along and told the guy behind the desk that he'd drive us to Killarney instead. It was great craic chatting with him on the way down, I was sitting in the back with my housemate who I hadn't seen in a while and it gave us a great chance to catch up.
"Tony was so good, he told us he was meant to be picking up one of his kids from the cinema that night and that he'd have to give them a ring to explain why he was in Killarney"
The trio asked if Tony would want to be compensated for his trip, to which he replied that he was scheduled to work until 3:30am. He confessed that there was usually nothing to do so he decided to use the time to help out the passengers in need.
After two hours in the car, the girls arrived safe and sound in Killarney, where their families were waiting to bring them the last few miles home for Christmas.
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