A quick-thinking supermarket delivery man has been hailed a “hero” after he helped save a pensioner’s life.

Mahad Ahmed was on his usual rounds taking food to Budgens customers in Crouch End when a regular shopper John Congdon failed to open his door.

He returned to the Cecile Avenue home several times in the day, but was unable to make contact with the 79-year-old.

Concerned for the pensioner’s welfare, Mr Ahmed enlisted the help of a neighbour to open the main door to the flats, where he was able to call out to Mr Congdon who had collapsed onto his living room floor.

“He could hear me calling out to him and replied but his voice was slurred,” said the 28-year-old driver.

“He was lying on the floor and couldn’t move. He was conscious and talking but it was hard to make out what he was saying. It was pretty frightening.”

Mr Congdon was rushed to the Whittington Hospital in Highgate where he stayed for two weeks and was treated for septicaemia.

Now recovering well at his Crouch End home, the pensioner recalled the terrifying moment he was lying on the floor waiting for help.

He said: “I’d been sitting in a chair and came over all faint. The Budgens man knocked a few times and then I called out ‘I think I’ve had a stroke, can you call the police?’ I had no strength to get off the floor, I asked them to break the door.”

Andrew Thornton, owner of Budgens in The Broadway, Crouch End, said Mr Ahmad was a “hero”.

He said: “His quick thinking saved the day. He is a fantastic guy and really went beyond the call of duty to continuously go back. “We are very proud of him. He is an absolute hero.

“Mahad is modest and didn’t even tell me about his heroics. I only found out when a customer nominated him for one of our ‘Smile’ awards and told me about it.”

Remaining modest about his actions, Mr Ahmad, who lives in Barking in east London, said he was just thankful Mr Congdon was recovering well.

“There are a lot of elderly people in Crouch End and Muswell Hill and they don’t have people who look after them,” he said.

“People need to look out for their neighbours. If I wasn’t there and he hadn’t ordered something he might have died. He might not have had the help he needed.”