A Papamoa truck driver is praising the actions of a young Opotiki man who saved his life. Paul Clarke, 45, wants Peter Hanne, 18, to be awarded with a bravery medal for rescuing him from his truck cab as it teetered over the edge of the Waioeka River on Sunday night. MrClarke - who arrived in Tauranga from the UK seven months ago - was driving a 23 tonne Halls Refrigerated Transport truck from Gisborne when he slid off the road. He was trapped inside and the weight of the truck's trailer was threatening to topple the vehicle into the river. Then Mr Hanne arrived from his home nearby. He climbed on to the shifting truck, smashed the cab's back window with a wheel brace, and hauled Mr Clarke to safety. Mr Clarke escaped with broken ribs. "He had the confidence of an experienced rescuer, giving no thought for his own life to rescue me," he wrote in a letter to the New Zealand Herald. "If my truck had gone, he would have gone with me. I cannot thank him or praise him enough, as without his help who knows what may have been." Mr Hanne has rejected the hero label. "I just had to be quick because I didn't know how long it was going to stay there. Nah, that's not true. It was just right time, right place." However, earlier this week Opotiki police Senior Constable Doug Henry said Mr Hanne was undoubtedly a hero. "We're always complaining about our young people for those who mess up, but here is one young man who has really laid his life on the line for another. He is a real hero." Mr Clarke said he was also grateful to Mr Hanne's mother for giving him a blanket and a cup of tea. He told the newspaper his vehicle was making lots of noise, but he could not get out the driver's door because it was wedged against bushes. When he leaned towards the passenger side, the truck began moving, so he thought it wise to stay still. Mr Clarke said he was not speeding, but suspected the truck had slid on mud or oil as it came around a corner in drizzling rain.
