A police officer risked her life to rescue a woman from her car as huge waves threatened to sweep them both into the sea.
Constable Dana Irvine dragged the driver into her police vehicle as heavy seas battered the famous Churchill Barrier causeways in Orkney.
She then waited for a brief lull in the raging water and made a dramatic dash to safety with her passenger.
Constable Irvine had been given the job of closing the causeways because the weather was so wild.
But when she got to the second one – which links Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm – she spotted the motorist stranded in the middle of the causeway.
Her car had been struck by a powerful wave and got stuck after colliding with a roadside barrier.
Without a thought for her own safety, Constable Irvine drove on to the barrier and pulled up alongside the other driver’s car.
But another huge wave hit the police vehicle, and forced it across the road and into the side of the woman’s car.
With both vehicles trapped, the women quickly rolled down a window each and the driver was able to climb through them into the police car.
It was then that they made their sprint for safety, timing their escape to avoid the fiercest waves crashing over the barriers.
Last night, the young officer said modestly that she had simply been doing her duty.
But her actions won praise from senior officers, including Chief Constable Sir Stephen House, who sent her a message saying: “Well done.”
Constable Irvine, from Unst in Shetland, will now be nominated for a bravery award.
The 26-year-old said last night: “It was pretty wild, with waves coming over all the time.
“I pulled up alongside her car and left enough room for the doors to open and allow her to jump in.
“But a wave struck my vehicle and pushed it into hers.
“I told her to wind down her window and I did the same with my passenger side and she climbed in. There was no other way of getting her out.
“There were still waves coming over my car when she got in, so I told her to get into the back seat so that we could both get out of the vehicle at the same time.
“I could see the waves coming over and had to wait for a gap.
“We had to run to the coastguard vehicle.”
She added: “I was quite scared because I though that the windows might have got broken by the waves.
“I have never been on the barriers when it has been that rough before.”
Local area commander for Orkney, temporary Chief Inspector Gordon Deans, and Assistant Chief Constable Campbell Thomson, local policing north, also both praised her actions yesterday.
And the north’s divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Julian Innes, said: “I think it was remarkably quick thinking by the police officer.”
A Shetland Coastguard spokesman said that the barriers were susceptible to south-easterly winds.
He said that their teams were called out to guard the entrance to the barriers and advise members of the public of the danger.
He confirmed that a team provided shelter to the women.