A HELPFUL bobby saved the day when a bride's wedding car broke down on the way to church.

Victoria Cheal, 27, was in tears by the roadside in her bridal gown when she was spotted by PC Andy Smith.

As her fiance David Richardson, 31, anxiously checked his watch, she was being driven away by another man.

But PC Smith whisked Victoria and her dad to the civil ceremony in his patrol car and arrived with seconds to spare.

Mother-of-three Victoria said: "He was my hero. I just can't thank him enough.

"As the saying goes, I had something old in a car that broke down, something borrowed with the police car, and the luckiest of all was the boy in blue who made by day so special."

Victoria and her dad Patrick Hamilton, 49, were left stranded on Saturday morning, when their hire car stopped on the busy St Michael's Way roundabout in Sunderland.

The pair sat anxiously as their chauffeur tried in vain to restart the engine.

Victoria, from Pallion, Sunderland, said: "It was 10.45am and I began to panic because the wedding started at 11am. I was thinking about David and our 100 guests waiting for me to turn up. I was so worried I wouldn't make it."

Luckily for Victoria, PC Smith whisked the wedding party away, sirens blaring, to reach the civic centre on time.

PC Smith, who works at Southwick Police Station, said: "It was just another day on duty for me and I did what I would do in any traffic emergency."

Victoria added: "Everybody remembers their big day for different reasons - I just didn't think mine would be arriving in the back of a police car."