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 father 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 my day so special."

Victoria and her father, 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.

Luckily for Victoria, PC Smith pulled up in his patrol car and whisked the wedding party away, sirens blaring, to reach the civic centre on time.