
Ford security guard Stewart Webster was unflappable when he saw a duck in distress outside the main gate to Bridgend Engine Plant.
The entrance is adjacent to Ogmore River and he saw a duck and some ducklings gathering around a drain cover on the access road and suddenly one of them fell through the grating.
“I ran over and the duck was making a noise but when I got there I had no means to lift the heavy grating,” said Stewart.
Fortunately, PADS operator Will Davies was close and when Stewart asked for help to raise the grating, his colleague produce a metal bar which they used to lever up the grating.

Instead of one duckling, the duck-rescue duo were confronted with five ducklings in the bottom of the drain and in danger of disappearing, so they lay down and reached into the culvert to pick them out one by one and line worker Chris Blackmore was on hand to record the rescue on his mobile phone.
“We had no idea so many had fallen into the drain but that was why the ducks’ mother was making such a noise and staying around the grating and it was lucky she did because we saw her,” said Stewart.
After the ducklings were rescued, Stewart and Will replaced the grating and put a traffic cone over it to stop any more accidents with the wandering webb-footed family.
Stewart has been with Ford since 2007 and joined the plant protection team in 2011 but colleagues now call him “the duck whisperer”.