A QUICK-THINKING ten-year-old rode a mobility scooter half a mile to rescue her stricken great-granddad after he suffered an angina attack.

Kyra Young became concerned for 89-year-old Jack Atkinson after he failed to return home after taking his dog, Panyo, for a walk.

Kyra, who had been at Mr Atkinson’s house in Shinwell Crescent, Thornley, County Durham, followed the route on which he normally takes the dog around nearby Cooper’s Court and it was not long before she found him doubled up on a grass verge.

The schoolgirl found his keys to the 4mph Mayfair Freerider machine.

Wasting no time, she ran back to his home and got his electric mobility scooter, which does not require a driving licence to use, and drove it half a mile to where her great-granddad waited.

Mr Atkinson, who had a heart attack in 1999, said: “I am proud of her.

“I had an angina attack and she said ‘give me your keys and I will go and get your buggy’.

“I got a pain in the right side of my chest. I could not go any further.”

Kyra’s mum, Karen Allen, 47, of Ellerby Mews, Thornley, said: “I’m proud of her because I dread to think what would have happened, to be truthful.

“If he had been left he certainly could not have made his way home. He could not get home because of the hills.

“He was just standing in the middle of the grass area. He could not go up or down.”

Mr Atkinson, who had his spray inhaler with him, managed to drive the scooter home with Kyra, and her step-sister Hannah Young, nine, running alongside.

Back home, Mr Atkinson recovered from the attack, which happened at about 5.30pm on Saturday, June 20, and did not need further medical attention.

Ms Allen said: “She used her initiative, which I am proud of.”