A leaflet delivery man has been hailed as a hero after chancing upon an elderly woman with a broken hip while on his rounds.

Andy Keniry raised the alarm after spotting a suspicious shadow through a glass fronted door in South Croydon last Thursday.

The 34-year-old discovered Beryl Christie, who had broken her hip during a fall, slumped on the ground as he called through the letterbox.

He said: ”It’s normally just dogs that scare the hell out of me when I’m on my rounds, not little old ladies.

“She was 85 or 90 and was just sitting on the ground in her dressing gown in the middle of the afternoon.

“I don’t know if she was there from the night before or that morning - I hope it was the morning.

“She looked pretty frail, but she was being very brave about it.

“She seemed more worried about her door being popped by the police.”

Police managed to persuade Mrs Christie to shuffle backwards so they could kick the door open, and she was taken by ambulance to Mayday Hospital.

Gary Davis, who had hired Mr Keniry to deliver leaflets for his folk and blues night, praised him for his quick thinking.

He said: ”He’s a hero - we don’t know how long she had been lying there with her hip broken, and she could have been there for a lot longer if he hadn’t spotted her.”