A stark warning has been issued to teenagers after two girls were stranded and unable to get home in the early hours of the morning.

Good Samaritan Simon Edwards and partner Claire Walters were driving home when they spotted the ‘scared’ girls huddled against a bollard in the middle of a road at 4am.

Concerned for the girls’ welfare, the couple pulled over and offered them a lift home to Bridport.

Mr Edwards has now issued a warning to other youngsters – which has been echoed by police.

The incident happened as he was driving along the A3066 near Mosterton at around 4am on Friday, August 25.

Mr Edwards, 44, from Crewkerne, said: “We were driving along in the pitch black and the fog and I thought ‘what the hell is that?’ We realised it was two young girls huddled in the middle of the road on the island. They’d been to a party. They didn’t seem drunk but they said they were scared.”

According to Mr Edwards, the girls had made their way from Chedington before stopping in Mosterton.

“They were cold and scared sat hugging a bollard to try and get heat from the light,” said Mr Edwards.

“They had already walked for an hour-and-a-half through dark lanes and main roads. They didn’t want to walk through the tunnel so they were waiting until morning.”

Mr Edwards, who has two daughters, and Miss Walters, who has a 14-year-old daughter, were heading home from West Bay when they noticed the youngsters.

Fearing for their safety, they stopped to offer them help.

Mr Edwards said: “That road is 30mph but at that time of night you can get any idiot speeding through and the girls were in the middle of the road. I would not be happy if that was one of my daughters sitting there in the road at 4am.

"My advice would be to anyone going out to make sure they have transport home. It did not seem as though anyone was coming for them and it was cold and foggy and they were nowhere near home.

"It’s concerning for any female to be walking home at that time but for a 16-year-old girl it’s even more so.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “Our advice would be get a bus or licensed taxi or get a lift home with someone you know and trust and you’ll get home safely.

"Trust in what you know, not who you don’t.”