Thanks for the lift

Tony Wrigglesworth, aged 65, was stranded on the platform at, Freehold, Metrolink station, Oldham, when the lifts went out of order and could not get down the steps on his mobility scooter. Tony was on his way to a karaoke night at the Dog Inn, Chadderton. Picture shows, L/R, Tony Wrigglesworth, Farek Rahman, aged 20, who came to to the aid of Tony who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A GRATEFUL pensioner has praised three men who came to his aid after he was left stranded at Freehold tram stop.

Tony Wrigglesworth, 65, who uses a mobility scooter due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was making his way to a planned karaoke night when the drama unfolded.

The retired cleaner had travelled from South Chadderton and tried to access two lifts at the Freehold stop but said they were both out of order.

Despite being only two minutes away from his destination, The Dog Inn, Block Lane, Mr Wrigglesworth considered abandoning his plans for the evening.

Sympathetic

But three kind-hearted young men sympathetic to his plight offered to carry his weighty scooter down the two flights of stairs to reach ground level.

Metrolink officials said the lifts were working but customers needed to contact an operator to gain access after the evening peak.

Mr Wrigglesworth, of Henley Street, Chadderton, said: "I was on my way to meet some friends for our regular karaoke night at around 8.30pm.

"It is one of my little treats on a Monday night.

"I got on the tram at South Chadderton but when I got off, the lift on the Rochdale side was broken.

"When I found out the other one wasn't working either I thought I'd have to go home.

"I was having a joke with the three young lads and said if they carried the chair down I would give them a pint.

"I was dead chuffed when the lads said they'd take my chair down ­- but it's no light-weight.

"I took my time and walked down but I was able to get to my karaoke.

"They could have just left me there but they didn't."

The Chronicle organised for Mr Wrigglesworth to meet with rescuer Farek Rahman to express his thanks.

Hoist

Mr Rahman, 20, a University of Manchester student, said: "There were three of us but we didn't know each other.

"We all got off the tram together and as we were walking past, the man saw that the lifts were out of order.

"It was night time and it had started to rain and we didn't know what to do.

"One of the other guys asked if we could carry him down.

"I went to the front to hoist the chair and there were two others at the back.

"Someone put a picture online and it has gone viral ­- it has had an epic response."

Residents on social media have praised the caring men for their act of goodwill.

A photograph of the kind-hearted gesture attracted more than 300,000 views on the Spotted: Oldham Facebook page.

Kamrul Islam said on the post: "Come on Oldham!

"We might be deprived of economic prosperity but we have hearts of gold for our community."

Janine Patterson added: "It makes a change to see something nice happening at Freehold rather than all the normal anti-social behaviour."

A Metrolink spokeswoman said: "The lift was not out of order.

Notices

"After the evening peak Metrolink lifts switch to manual operation."

He added: "Notices at the lifts advise customers who need to use the lift to speak to a member of staff via the on-stop help points in order to activate the lift.

"From the Metrolink operator records it appears that, on this occasion, although contact was made with the Metrolink control room the customer still assumed the lift wasn't working.

"Passengers proceeded to carry the mobility scooter down the stairs while the scooter user walked down."