A taxi driver went beyond the call of duty after driving a chiropodist stranded by the volcano flight ban all the way from Belfast to Heathrow.

Lorraine Jones was at the Delegate Assembly for the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists at the Belfast Hilton Hotel when news broke that planes across the UK were grounded because of the giant ash cloud.

Not wanting to let her Friday clients down, Miss Jones, 51, and seven other members of the party, started to look for alternative ways to get home.

She said: “We ended up booking the ferry from Belfast to Stranraer intending to take pot luck when we got there. Having had no success in hiring a car or finding a coach with a driver we were pretty desperate.”

But their knight in shining armour came in the form of Fonacab driver Joe Duffy who picked up the eight stranded passengers from the hotel.

Miss Jones said: “We were kind of joking with him saying ‘how do you fancy a trip to London?’ – he called his control room and they said OK.”

Mr Duffy ended up driving the group on the 12-hour journey, travelling over the sea and via Stranraer in Scotland, to reach their final destination – Heathrow.

The group paid £500, plus an extra £150 for his ferry crossing.

The chiropodist, who runs Chiswick Feet at the Bedford Park Pharmacy, said: “He was amazing.”

At Heathrow, Miss Jones called her partner to drive the remaining travellers home.

Mr Duffy arrived back at the Stenaline ferry port in Belfast at noon on Friday after 24 hours on the road and covering 869 miles.

He was given a hero’s welcome on his return and was greeted by TV and radio crews.

Mr Duffy said he would probably use the money to treat his family.