Award for hero who rescued girl from burning car

He was not sure if he should wear a tie - he is meant to be a truck driver after all - but Les McIntosh was sure he would step up with pride to receive the Highway Heroes supreme award yesterday.

The Invercargill truck driver, who never wanted to be called a hero for plucking a toddler from the wreckage of the crash that killed her mother and older sister, still says he just did what anybody would in the same circumstances.

Yesterday, Mr McIntosh, who was nominated earlier this year for the Highway Heroes award for possibly saving the life of 2-year-old Abigail Coulter, won top honours at the Beaurepaires 2011 Highway Heroes awards.

Handing the tie-less Mr McIntosh his trophy in Wellington, police national road policing manager Superintendent Paula Rose thanked the truckie for his efforts.

"When the rubber hits the road you find out who has what it takes.

"Who has that will inside, who has that ability to, in a split-second, make some life-saving decisions? If I'm ever around in need, I hope you're the person standing there in that situation because we need heroes."

Mr McIntosh pulled Abigail from the car as its engine caught fire following a head-on collision with a truck-and-trailer unit near Milton on February 8.

Abigail's mother, Phillipa "Pip" Manning (43), and 6-year-old sister Rebecca, of Waihola, died in the crash.

The then-Northern Southland Transport truck driver, who now works for Toll NZ, held the toddler, who was bleeding from multiple cuts and a broken arm, for about 45 minutes until emergency services arrived.

It was something he would "absolutely" do again, if needed, Mr McIntosh said.

He was following the truck involved in the fatal crash and saw a "giant plume of flames" go up when vehicles collided, about 9.30pm.

First on the scene, he ran to the car but did not notice Abigail until he heard a small noise from the back of the car.

Worried about the fire in the engine, he pulled the girl out while other motorists, including the truck driver, put out the fire.

He met Abigail again at the request of her father, Donald Coulter, a few weeks later, but had not seen her since.

"It was good to see her then, happy and healthy, and just being a normal kid."

What he had witnessed that night was horrible, but had not really affected him in an ongoing way, although his mind had been "very busy" as he continued his journey to Dunedin and back to Invercargill that night, he said.

Sam Walters, from Invercargill Passenger Transport, was also nominated after performing CPR on a Japanese woman in her early 20s who stopped breathing and began having a seizure soon after the bus he was driving pulled into Dunedin in June.

Ambulance staff said what he did was the difference between life and death for the woman.