A schoolgirl has met her lifesaving hero one week after he jumped in to prevent her from drowning in Yalding’s notorious weir.

Olivia Church, 11, had been paddling in the section of water close to Teapot Island on Saturday, April 21, when the sluice gates opened and swept her away.

Her mum, Lucy Burton, watched as she disappeared past the arches of the bridge and dustcart driver Fred Colaluca, from Tonbridge, jumped in to save her.

Scroll down for video

All three met up seven days later at the Bucks Head pub in Sevenoaks for lunch and a reunion.

Miss Burton said: “It was quite emotional at first and we got on really well.

“It didn’t feel like Fred was a stranger and it felt like we had known him for years. We have already arranged to meet again.

“I think we all got a bit of closure but Olivia is probably a bit too young to understand the magnitude of what happened.”

Olivia, a pupil at Knole Academy in Sevenoaks, has battled a stomach bug she contracted due to the amount of water she took in. She has also struggled with night terrors in the wake of what happened.

Miss Burton is now looking at options to improve the safety further at the weir which has become an attraction for swimmers when the temperature rises.

She said: “For me and Fred it was closure. Olivia is still quite emotional and still has nightmares when she is sleeping.

“It didn’t feel like Fred was a stranger and it felt like we had known him for years" - Lucy Burton

“People need to not take the river for granted.

“We have paddled in that water for more than 50 years as a family.

“That river can change in an instant. Our country is health and safety gone mad; we put a sign up when there is a puddle so people begin to ignore them when they are really needed.”

Fred added: “We are going to keep in contact.

“At the time you don’t think about what could have happened, but people come into people’s lives for a reason.”