Family's gratitude after local car dealer rescues their holiday!
Time off work has been a rarity for Aisling Carey and her partner Ian in recent months. The Dublin-based couple both work for JMC, a transport and logistics company which distributes personal protective equipment (PPE) throughout Ireland for the HSE.
In the early stages of the Covid crisis, it wasn't unknown for Aisling and Ian (pictured above with son, Jace) to work for seven days a week, sometimes up to 18 hours a day.
As a result, they were particularly looking forward to their first post-Covid break as a family when they and their four children set off for a weekend in Galway last Friday morning.
However, as Aisling told the Westmeath Independent, a car breakdown en-route would have scuppered their getaway only for the generous help they received from the Colm Quinn BMW dealership in Athlone.
The family had been travelling on the M6, near Mullingar, when their car broke down on Friday. Aisling has roadside assistance on her insurance policy and, about 90 minutes later, a truck came to tow their car away.
She was told that her insurance policy would entitle her to either a 'B Class' vehicle similar to a Yaris, which would not have been big enough for the family of six, or a taxi back home to Dublin, which would have been particularly disappointing for the children.
After they made a few calls to friends, a work contact who was previously employed by a BMW franchise, got in touch with Colm Quinn BMW on their behalf.
"When the situation was explained, Colm Quinn's offered to help us straight away, no questions asked. Once we had a driver's licence, and could transfer insurance, they offered us a replacement car so that we could enjoy our weekend," said Aisling.
"The tow-truck company dropped us to Colm Quinn's. Tina McNabola, who works there, met us and she could not have been any kinder.
"They brought the kids in to use the toilets, they just couldn't have done any more for us. And it was something they didn't have to do - they could have easily said, sorry, we don't have anything available."
The family duly made it to Galway and got to enjoy their seaside break before the children's return to school this week.
When Aisling spoke to us, on Monday, she and Ian still had the vehicle from Colm Quinn's and were planning to arrange its return in the coming days.
Aisling contacted the Westmeath Independent to tell the story because she wanted to publicly acknowledge this good deed.
"The generosity and kindness we were shown was beyond words. Our family has so much appreciation for the help we received from Colm Quinn's.
"We truly are all in this together. Help and support can come from anyone at any time, big or small, and we are so grateful for the help we received," she said.