An elderly woman is searching for a taxi driver whose quick actions prevented her from being knocked down when she fell in the road in Weymouth.

Eileen O’Brien, 80, who lives on the Esplanade, was out with her grandson for lunch on the harbourside when she ended up in the road and was nearly run over.

She had asked her grandson Tom Walden to go and put something in the bin for her while she went to see if a restaurant near the Harbour Master’s office on Custom House Quay was open for lunch.

It was shut and so she starting walking towards her grandson, but as she was doing so she tripped and fell into the road.

Mrs O’Brien said: “My grandson was watching me and he was terrified.”

A taxi was coming down the same side the road at the time and, with some quick thinking, its driver managed to swerve and brake, stopping inches away from her.

Mrs O’Brien said: “When I sat up I was in a lot of pain and I could not stand up.

“I found I was leaning on his front wheel when I sat up.”

The taxi driver then stayed with her for an hour while she waited for an ambulance to arrive.

It turned out Mrs O’Brien had fractured her hip in two places and needed a total hip replacement.

She said: “The taxi driver was lovely. It is just the fact that he stayed there and comforted me.”

She added: “He had sat there for an hour so he obviously lost money and I want to say thank you to him for swerving and not hitting me.”

Mrs O’Brien was very grateful for the help she received from a doctor on one of the boats on the harbour who came and gave her some painkillers before a paramedic managed to reach the scene, as well as from a lady who stopped to tend to her.

She said: “I would like to thank the lady that helped me and the doctor who gave me painkillers.”

Mrs O’Brien said she was recovering well from the operation on her hip, despite suffering from an infection from the wound she sustained, and will soon be up and about and meeting up with people again.

She added that she received excellent care from those at Dorset County Hospital, and from a care team used by the hospital after she returned home and wanted to thank them all.