A SPECIAL constable in training at Nantwich police station has been honoured by Cheshire Police with a Student Officer of the Year award.

Jack Nelson, who lives near Oswestry, Shropshire, was given the annual award at a ceremony celebrating the work of Special Constables, police cadets and volunteers at the Constabulary’s Winsford headquarters on May 6.

And it was as he on his way to begin his first ever shift in February, that he was unexpectedly called into action.

He came across a three-vehicle RTC on the A483 dual carriageway near Wrexham.

Single-handedly, he secured the scene, got the walking wounded driver to safety in another vehicle, and took details of the drivers and witnesses − all during rush hour traffic.

Attending officers from the North Wales Road Policing Unit were astounded to later learn that Jack was a special constable.

In an email to Cheshire Police, PC Alastair Ward-Smith of the North Wales Roads Policing Unit, said: "Jack is a credit to Cheshire Police’s training and to himself, he is a very confident person.

“We hope that he achieves his goal of becoming a Police Officer as he will be an asset to the force."

Jack has been stationed at Nantwich while he completes a ten-week tutor phase of the foundation degree in Policing, Law and Investigation at the University of Chester.

Jack said: "I was very surprised to have even been nominated for the award, and I was honoured to have won. What I did on the A483 just felt natural and it was my duty to stop and help those involved.

"I wasn’t aware that the award existed, I came home to the post one evening and there was a letter saying that I had won the Special Constabulary Student Officer of the Year Award for 2014. I would like to pass on my thanks to anyone involved in the nominations for the award."

His tutor, PC Brett Oliver, said: "I have been immensely impressed with how quickly he has got to grips with being a Special Constable. For someone who has had no prior policing experience before joining Cheshire Constabulary, he conducts himself in an exemplary manner and demonstrates behaviours and characteristics not to dissimilar to an officer with several years of service."