BREAKDOWN recovery crews and garage staff came to the rescue of a father and son in their bid to get to Wembley for Forest Green Rovers’ promotion play-off final.

Richard Parker and his 12-year-old son Oliver only made it to Membury services just past Swindon when they broke down an hour-and-a-half from their destination.

Oliver is a pupil at Katharine Lady Berkeley’s school in Wotton, near to where the family live in Hawkebury Upton.

A tyre on Richard’s Landrover had deflated.

He said: “We pulled over at the services to check the tyres because my air pressure light was on.

“The tyre had obviously been flat for some time as it was very hot.

“I called AA and when the guy arrived he said it was going to take a long time.

“It was already 12.15pm at this point but he said he would take us down to Wembley.

“They didn’t have the right tyre size which is why they had to take us to a garage near Wembley.

“He drove us to a Kwik-Fit about 30 minutes from Wembley in a recovery vehicle, which my son loved.

“We got to the stadium at 2.50pm and got to our seats two minutes before the 3pm kick-off.

“I just thought we were going to miss the match.

“The people at Kwik-Fit told us it would be easy to fix and would be ready for us after the game.”

Richard’s wife Vicki told the Gazette: “We had amazing service from the AA and one very happy son.”

Fortunately Richard and his son Oliver, along with their close friend and neighbour Richard Atkinson, were able to watch Forest Green Roves sweep to victory over Tranmere Rovers to gain promotion to the Football League.

“We are all extremely thankful for the recovery crews and garage staff who came to our rescue, allowing us to witness football history in the making,” said Richard.

Following the match they were able to make the drive back home up the M4 safely after the swift repair of the family’s Landrover.