A dog owner has thanked a man for coming to the rescue of his dog, which had a “miraculous escape” after being hit by a van.

Rory Weaver, 74, from Hazeldown Avenue in Weymouth, praised Good Samaritan Jim Biss after he delayed going to work so as to drive his injured dog Daisy to the vets.

Daisy was hit by a van while crossing a road in Weymouth, leaving her with a ruptured artery and a lot of blood loss.

Rory had been walking Daisy, his Jack Russell, down to the beach and they had just reached the crossing on Preston Beach Road.

Daisy had unexpectedly decided to take a toilet break just before the crossing the road, and while Rory was clearing up, Daisy walked across the road to the island.

Rory said: “I shouted at her in alarm, which was the worst thing I could do because then she ran back to me.”

He said a van was “approaching at speed” along the road and tried to break before colliding with her.

Rory said: “He hit her then and carried straight on. Fortunately, coming the other way was Jim Biss. He saw the whole incident.”

Jim Biss, 45, from Mission Hall Lane in Sutton Poyntz, saw that Rory had turned back up Beechdown Way with Daisy to get onto Southdown Avenue and drove up to meet Rory and Daisy there.

Rory said: “I was carrying my dog and both of us were covered in blood.”

He added: “He asked if he could help and I said ‘yes please’ and he took me straight to my vets at Winfrith.”

Vet Alan Sim, managed to stop the bleeding and bandaged the wound up.

Rory said: “In the end the vet said she had a miraculous escape, because she had a big tyre mark all down her side and the only thing that was damaged was an artery in her ankle and it’s healed very well.”

Jim Biss has since been in touch with Rory to see how Daisy has been getting on, and Rory has thanked Jim for going out of his way to get Daisy to the vets.

Rory said: “I just think he went way beyond what you can expect anybody to do because he came and searched for us and then he took us to the vets at Winfrith and he did it all on his way to work. That is an outstanding act of kindness.”

Rory has not reported the incident to the police.