UNSUNG HEROES
SIX LONDON TAXIS RETURN TO THE UK AFTER TRANSPORTING 28 REFUGEES FROM POLAND
Matt Westfall and an 11-person team of working London taxi drivers drove over 3,000 miles in 60 hours from Harwich, Essex to Chelm, Poland where they col- lected refugees to transport them inland. Four drivers went to Berlin, one to Warsaw, one to Dunkirk and one to Dresden. It took ten days from deciding to do the trip to completing it. SW Londoner reports that cabbie Matt Westfall, 52, organised the trip after feeling broken watching a Ukrainian man kissing his wife and child goodbye on the television. He teamed up with fellow taxi driver Richard Gough, 60, owner of a taxi rental service, Polish social centre and restaurant in Balham, the White Eagle Club. Before they set out Westfall said: “Black cabs are bragged about as the
Richard Szmidt, a 70- year-old White Eagle Club ex-volunteer, was taken on as inter- preter and facilitator co-ordinating with Polish authorities and aid-points across the country. Over £15,000 of donations were raised in six days, including
best in the world at this. Let’s prove we are, let’s get out there and do what we’re supposed to do. “All the taxis are filled to the point of bursting at the seams.” Hundreds of people queued to donate goods to the White Eagle Club at the beginning of March until the club said it was at capacity for donations.
KIND-HEARTED NEWCASTLE CABBIE GIVES FREE RIDES TO THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED
A generous taxi driver has been giving free rides in his car to the elderly and disabled for the last two years. ChronicleLive reports that since the start of the pandemic, Raja Khan, 53, has been working closely with Holy Cross Church and mosques in Fenham, giving free rides to the vulnerable, elderly, and disabled to and from their places of worship. Raja, from Fenham, said: “I have been giving free taxi rides for the most vul- nerable to attend funerals, giving them a lift there and back, free of charge. “I’ve also been taking some residents to the local Morrisons for their shop- ping. It can be costly for disabled customers as they’re in need of a big- ger vehicle.” Afzal Ahmed, who attends Kotku mosque in Fenham said: “I see Raja help the elderly, he brings a few to the mosque every Friday and takes them
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back home. We are very appreciative of him, for helping all the local community. “He once helped my friend’s father by taking him to the hospital for free. It’s nice to see people like this today.” Raja added: “I decided to help the vul- nerable, elderly and disabled, after seeing the difficulties a lot of them went through especially during the pandemic.”
£5,000 from the LTDA, £700 from Cre- ative Mobile Technologies and £6,722 raised from Go Fund Me. One cabbie had an American passen- ger donate £600 from his cab after explaining about the trip. The cargo was mainly medical and san- itary equipment as well as baby food, nappies, syringes, sutures, and dispos- able examination table sheets. The collection centres they visited requested these rather than clothes. Reflecting on arriving at Chelm, Matt said: “These people have been on a 15- hour bus journey from the middle of Kyiv, where bombs litter the streets. “I can’t imagine what the journey was like, not for a second. Maybe I was expecting to meet people who had experienced famine, who were in rags. But it was people like me who lost everything in a flash. “But I couldn’t let it get to me. I had to concentrate on driving for 21 hours, safety was paramount. We said if any- one is tired we stop straight away.” Despite wanting to return, the group cannot currently because of the impact on their taxis.
Another member of the team, ex-Lon- don cabbie, Andrew Fuller, 50, said: “Some of these lads have dropped £60,000 on a taxi. It’s their businesses, and at the end of the day they’ve put a lot of mileage on their cabs.” The convoy included five electric taxis, one petrol taxi, a van, and a truck with a trailer.
APRIL 2022
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