A grieving father said his 'instincts took over' when he rushed to help at the scene of a crash in Thornbury despite being on his way to the wake of his toddler daughter.

Steven Webb was on his way from Thornbury Cemetery to The Swan pub on Tuesday afternoon when he heard a car crash into the wall of St Mary Street car park.

He helped comfort the car's occupants, an elderly couple who were later taken to hospital.

Emergency services descended on the town shortly after 1.30pm. The male driver and female passenger were both treated at the scene before being taken to hospital for further care.

Rock Street remained closed for several hours while investigation work was carried out.

Steven had just parked in Rock Street car park when he heard the crash.

"I heard this big crash and saw a puff of smoke," he said.

"There was a lot of panic and confusion. My first priority was to make sure they were safe.

"They were in distress. The driver was trying to get out but we realised he was in a lot of pain.

"It was the best thing to do to not move him until he was assessed properly

Along with his brother-in-law Alan Guy, a response police officer with Derbyshire Police, they comforted the occupants of the car until the emergency services arrived.

Tributes have been paid to Steven's actions both on social media and by members of his family.

Sister Sharon Guy said: "Regardless of what happened that day he just ran and helped out."

Alan added: "He went straight towards it without hesitating. It's quite a feat really."

Reflecting on the incident Steven, 39, said: "My instincts took over. I would never walk past a situation like that.

"At that moment they were in need of a hand. I just wanted to make sure they were safe. A lot of people jumped in to help."

Following the arrival of the emergency services, Steven made his way to his daughter Isla's wake.

Isla died from a brain condition shortly before what would have been her second birthday, and Steven believes the experience of looking after her helped him know how to respond to the crash.

"We have had a lot of dealings with ambulance crews. You do pick up things.

"That sort of helped us deal with the situation.We acted like we would normally for her.

"It's what we would do as a family. We would help anybody, funeral or not.

Throughout the whole affair Steven was dressed in pink, as per the theme of the funeral.

"It was a strange day," he said.

Before lockdown, Steven, a maintenance contractor, had been halfway through an application to become a retained firefighter in Thornbury.

"It's given me more incentive to continue with my application," he said.