An Essex mother has expressed her gratitude to good samaritans who came to the rescue when her vehicle became stranded in snowdrifts in Suffolk.

Caroline Fitzgerald was travelling to Southwold from Leigh-on-Sea on Friday evening with her 11-year-old daughter, Madeleine, and sister-in-law, Jo, when they took a wrong turn and ended up down country lanes in the Ipswich area.

She said: “We had a bad feeling about it as the snow was falling heavily.”

The family got caught in snowdrifts in Clay Lane near Henley around 8pm and couldn’t move.

Two men stopped to help, with one using a spirit level to try and dig the car out of the snow, but to no avail.

Instead of giving up, one of the men went to a nearby farm to get reinforcements.

Within 20 minutes there was a tractor at the scene and a group of men with shovels who all worked to clear the road.

Once the car was able to move, the man who went to the farm told the family to follow behind him in his vehicle and led her to a safe main road so they could continue their journey.

Mrs Fitzgerald, who is 41 and lives in Leigh-on-Sea, said: “We couldn’t believe the kindness of the local people. We would have been stuck there for hours in the snow otherwise.”

She added: “It was overwhelming how nice people were and they wanted to make sure we were OK. I think that’s amazing in this day and age.”

Mrs Fitzgerald eventually made it to her sister-in-law Natalie’s 50th birthday party in Southwold around 10.45pm.

Within the commotion she was not able to get the names of the men who helped her, but she wants to issue a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for being there in her hour of need.

This week the East of England has been hit by extreme weather brought by the so-called Beast from the East.

Do you know any heroes who have gone above and beyond in Suffolk and north Essex to help others during the big freeze? Email us the details.