AN AMBULANCE had to be towed to safety after getting stuck in floodwater.

Good Samaritan Joe Hale stopped to help the stricken vehicle when it became stranded under a railway bridge in the New Forest.

Mr Hale, 28, of Lymington, is managing director of lighting and sound hire company SFX events.

He said: “I was driving to work when I saw the ambulance stuck in knee-deep floodwater and offered to tow them out.

“Luckily they’d already gone more than halfway through the floodwater and I had a reasonably long tow rope. I backed my vehicle up to the water’s edge and pulled the ambulance out.

“The crew said they had seen 4x4s go through. I think it was just a case of bad luck.

“The water wasn’t that deep but it must have got in somewhere.

"They couldn’t get the ambulance started and had to wait for a recovery truck.”

South Central Ambulance said the paramedics were at the end of their shift and there was no patient on board.

A spokeswoman said: “We would like to thank the Good Samaritan who helped.”

The incident happened on the Sway to Brockenhurst road on Sunday. The bridge has been the scene of several similar incidents in the past. Floodwater often collects at the spot where the road dips under the railway line.