UK weather latest: Greggs delivery driver hands out free food to stranded motorists on A1

Not all heroes wear capes

A delivery driver has been thanked for handing out cakes, pasties and doughnuts to stranded drivers on the A1 (PA)

A Greggs delivery driver has been lauded as a hero after handing out free food to stranded drivers on the A1.

Jon Gowing gave out cakes, pasties and doughnuts from the back of his lorry and shared them out among those who had been stuck for hours at Lindisfarne, Northumberland.

“I’ve been giving out whatever I’ve got in the back – the doughnuts, biscuits and all of that stuff. I walked up and down the A1 just handing stuff out,” Gowing told Heart radio station.

“Whatever they wanted that was on the stack, it was all free.”

A fellow motorist, Les Goff from Leeds, who was among those stranded, helped Gowing hand the food out and shared pictures of the kind deed with a friend who later circulated them online in a now viral post.

“Round of applause required for the @GreggsOfficial delivery driver that sorted out free cakes for my mate and all the other poor buggers stuck in snow on the A1 today,” Matt Bowman wrote.

Speaking from the Lindisfarne Inn, where staff kept their doors open for the stranded drivers, Goff told The Mirror, “The traffic had been stopped for a couple of hours so I went for a walk for a couple of miles to see if I could help, but I still couldn't see the start of the queue.

”I was walking back down the hill when I saw the Greggs guy at the back with the tail-lift and he just said 'Do you want some cakes'?

“He asked me to take some to the other drivers and he walked up the traffic and I walked down the traffic with doughnuts, vanilla slices and cakes, handing them out.

”He was a top guy. He said if he hadn't delivered them by a certain time, they would go to waste.”

While Gowing’s good deed didn’t go unnoticed, some were concerned that the driver might get in trouble with the bakery chain but Greggs were quick to reassure that he had the full support of head office.

“We are incredibly proud of Jon and his act of kindness in what must have been a very tough situation for him and all the other poor people stuck on the A1 in this cold weather,” Roisin Currie, people and retail director at Greggs told The Independent.

“We hope that his kind gesture was able to help make everyone's day a little bit better.

”Well done again Jon, a shining example of how we do things at Greggs.“