A TEENAGER has been hailed a hero after he went to the aid of a pensioner who had severed an artery in his arm.

Matthew Sweeney was in Redcar Cemetery putting flowers on his wife's grave last Wednesday when he slipped on dog dirt and fell over a glass vase.

The 80-year-old former ICI worker, from Westfield Court, Dormanstown, said he knew it was serious when he saw the amount of blood pouring from his arm. As well as severing an artery, the glass cut through the tendon and nerves.

His daughter ran to the car to fetch her mobile phone and call an ambulance. She also summoned two teenagers on a nearby bench.

Fortunately, ex-Army cadet Richard Emmerson, 18, had basic first-aid training and knew he had to apply pressure to the cut.

The Teesside Tertiary College student talked to Mr Sweeney, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, for five minutes until the ambulance arrived.

As further evidence of his role as a Good Samaritan, Richard visited Mr Sweeney the next day.

Mr Sweeney was full of praise for his young lifesaver.

"You couldn't get a better young lad - he is lovely. Nowadays you hear such a lot of bad things about young people, but he is a really nice lad who saved my life. He came round the next day to see me and we shook hands."

Richard, of Woodside, Redcar, said it was absolutely brilliant to be described as a hero. "I have never done anything like this before, but sometimes the training just pays off. All the lads these days get a bad reputation but this just proves against it," he added.