TWO young men who helped rescue a mum and her son who were trapped in an overturned car have won a prestigious award in recognition of their bravery.

Andy Jones, 19 and Jack Rice, 20, from Stroud, were on their way to a friend's house in Edge when they saw the overturned Peugeot 106 which had skidded on ice near Pitchcombe village hall one evening in January.

Seeing the smoking car in the middle of the A4173, Jack, who was driving, pulled over and Andy, an apprentice barber at Dann Barbers in Stroud, leapt out to help.

Wrenching the door open, Andy helped Katie Jarvis and her son Miles, who were inside, escape from the wreckage uninjured.

Andy, from Paganhill, and Jack, a bricklayer at Paul Sellick Brickwork, then stayed with Katie and Miles and called for an ambulance.

The brave youngsters have now been chosen as the group winners of the Nairac Youth Award, instituted by the Gloucestershire branch of the Royal Society of St George, in recognition of their heroics.

They were presented with the award by Dame Janet Trotter DBE, the County's Lord Lieutenant, at Gloucester Cathedral during its 38th St George's Day service yesterday evening.

The annual award is held in memory of Captain Robert Nairac, from Standish who joined the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards in January 1973.

He disappeared during his second tour of duty in Northern Ireland in 1977 at the age of 28.

It later transpired that he had been abducted, tortured and murdered by Irish terrorists.

His body has still not been found.

Her Majesty The Queen approved the posthumous award of the George Cross, the highest honour for gallantry in peacetime, to Captain Nairac in 1979.

Katie, a journalist from Nailsworth, said: “I am delighted the society is recognising the courage and kindness shown by Andy and Jack.

"Miles and I will never forget being upside down in our car, in the dark.

"Hearing that sudden banging on the window was one of the most wonderful sounds ever.

"We will be eternally grateful to them – and I hope their story inspires others to step in in an emergency, and never to step back."