A DELIVERY driver was hailed a hero for shepherding a mother and young son to safety in the early hours after spotting a neighbouring house on fire back in August 2008.

Dave Stowell said he simply did what anyone else would have done during the blaze in Galmington Road, Taunton, at 4.45am.

But Jayne Corneil, aged 36, said the outcome could have been “different” if he had not evacuated her and ten-year-old Tyler.

Mr Stowell, who worked for Dawson News, was driving past with a van load of County Gazettes and other papers when he spotted smoke billowing from the empty, boarded-up house.

He said: “I stopped, called the fire brigade and banged on the house next door.

“I’ve been led to believe that if I hadn’t, there could have been trouble.

“I told them to get out and they went and sat in their car.

"They were very grateful, but anybody would have done the same.

“All I did was bang on the door – I’m not a hero.”

Ms Corneil and Tyler are now back in the house, where a bedroom ceiling was damaged as the blaze spread to their home.

She said: “I want to thank the gentleman who alerted me to the fire.

“If he hadn’t woken us up, it could have been a different story – we’re very lucky.”

She also praised firefighters, who were greeted by flames and smoke issuing from the- first floor of the house next door, which had been recently boarded up when it became vacant.