INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A tow truck driver said it’s tough working on Christmas but helping people in trouble makes it well worth it.

On Christmas morning, News 8 caught up with Edurardo Gutierrez as he prepared his truck for another day on the job. Gutierrez works for his father’s towing company, Guerrero Towing, on the near west side. He said common problems on Christmas are cars not starting or people accidentally locking their keys inside their cars.

“It’s fun to help out people that need to be,” he said. “Sometimes, all they have is their family, so you have to help them.”

Gutierrez said it’s hard to predict how his day will go. On Christmas Day 2023, he said he and his colleagues spent four or five hours in Fort Wayne pulling a tractor-trailer out of a ditch. He said he especially remembers a man he and his father helped out a few years ago.

“He just needed to be with family. It was sick parents, and he really needed to be there in the middle of the night,” he said. “We were glad to help him out.”

Late Wednesday morning, Gutierrez got a call to retrieve a car that had died on I-465 Tuesday night. The owner lived nearby but had not been able to get a tow truck that night. Gutierrez was able to load the car onto his tow truck and bring it to the woman’s home in less than an hour.

“We were able to get her and us safe off of the highway,” he said afterward, “so that’s always a good day.”

Gutierrez said if you ever need a tow truck, move your car onto the right shoulder, not the left, and get it off the highway entirely if you can. He said he recommends at least pulling onto an exit ramp if possible. He said he also asks drivers to move over if they come up on a tow truck helping a stranded driver.