A PETROL station worker sprung into action when a pensioner crashed through cones and drove down the wrong way of a dual-carriageway.

Quick-thinking Johnny Hall has been praised by his boss after potentially averting a serious crash when the car crossed the central reservation on the A591 near Prizet.

The 35-year-old, of Kendal, was on duty at the Prizet service station when he and his colleague were alerted by a loud noise followed by a scattering of road cones all over the carriageway.

Mr Hall called the emergency services and ran up the road to where the Peugeot 108, driven by a man in his 80's from Kendal, had finally come to a halt.

Making the road safe, he set about placing road cones in front of the stricken car, flagging down traffic as he did so.

"Johnny treated the incident like it was a normal day at the office," said Prizet manager, Ruth Walker.

"Following his safety training, he did everything in such a calm manner.

"He followed the safety message of go home safe and he made sure that happened."

A Cumbria Police spokeswoman said the pensioner and his passenger, a woman also in her 80’s from Kendal, were not injured in the drama at 6.20pm on Thursday.

"The couple were very lucky because the road is always very busy, especially so at that time in the evening and there could have been a very serious accident," said Mr Hall.