UNSUNG HEROES Heading
GENEROUS BRADFORD UBER DRIVER REFUNDS CUSTOMERS’ FARES ON CHRISTMAS DAY AS A GIFT
An Uber driver refunded all his cus- tomers’ taxi fares on Christmas Day to start off his new mission to complete random acts of kindness. Kamran Mughal was first inspired to help strangers after one of his customers ex- plained how he doesn’t eat or smoke around his Muslim friends dur- ing Ramadan. “I was very touched by that. I decided I’m going to refund all the customers to say I can give back to the community,”
he explained.
And that morning many of his cus- tomers will have opened their bank accounts to find their ride cost noth- ing at all. It marks the start of his new social media cam- paign, Small Deeds, which he hoped to launch in January in a bid to “motivate” more people to help others in their every- day lives. Whether it’s chang- ing someone’s tyre or taking them where they need to go, Kamran believes no act is too small to
Kamran Mughal refunds his passengers on Christmas day
make a difference. Kamran, who work- ed his first Christ- mas as a taxi driver, told the Telegraph and Argus: “Some-
times we are so busy in our lives, time just passes by and we don’t know somebody needs help.
“I wanted to wish my community a Happy Christmas and de- cided to refund all my Uber earnings to my riders for Dec- ember 25. “There were two customers that I did tell that I was going to refund their money and they said ‘That’s very nice’ and another said: ‘Don’t do that!’.” The Bradfordian ex- plained: “The reason I am sharing this with the Telegraph and Argus is so that more people be- come aware of this way to contribute to
their community.” Mmmm… We’ve run this item from the T&A as we wish to make more PHTM readers aware of such ways to con- tribute to their com- munity. No doubt some of this driver’s customers fell over from shock when they realised they weren’t charged for their journey… what a nice gesture. And now he’s set up his new social media campaign Small Deeds; what other ways could you think of to help your local community? – Ed.
HULL TAXI DRIVER CLUNG TO CRYING WOMAN FOR 15 MINUTES AS SHE TRIED TO JUMP INTO FREEZING HUMBER
A taxi driver from Hull clung onto a customer in the wind and rain for 15 minutes to stop her throwing herself into the River Hum- ber. According to the Hull Daily Mail, Ali Asik, 45, had just dropped a young woman off at the Country Park Inn, under the Humber Bridge in Hessle, at 2am on a recent Thursday morning, where she said she was staying.
But he said he realised something was not right when he saw the woman walking towards an alleyway by the side of the building,
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rather than the entrance, as he reversed away. He decided to make sure the woman was OK and followed her, catching up to her as she rounded a wooden fence and walked onto a con- crete platform at the water’s edge.
“I had left the car in the middle of the road and I just ran and grabbed her,” Ali said. “She was pushing me away and telling me to leave her alone, that she didn’t want to be here any more. Then she fell to her knees, crying and crying.” Ali had left his phone in the car, so
the hope that more lives could poten- tially be saved. He said: “I’m no hero. I just want every driver to take care of their passen- gers.”
Ali Asik is a taxi driver from east Hull
he took the woman’s phone and desper- ately tried to get in touch with her fami- ly. He eventually had to call 999, having clung to the woman in the freezing wind and rain for 15 min- utes in total before the police arrived and led her away. Ali said he has since
been contacted by both the police and the woman’s family to thank him for his actions that night, saying he has been told the woman is now receiving pro- fessional help. But he said he want- ed to share his experience with other taxi drivers in
He said he had noticed that the woman had tears in her eyes during the journey and asked her what was wrong. She said she had been struggling with illness in the family and the death of a family member. He said her be- haviour during the journey and after he had dropped her off had made him realise something was wrong. “She was really
down,” he said. “But I would never have thought she might commit suicide. “If I had left her there and the next morning seen that a young woman had been found down there I would have had to live with that for the rest of my life. “Nowadays
you
never know who might be struggling. As drivers you need to make sure they get in the house safe. Look at their body language, check up on them. It might take a couple of minutes from the business, but it could make all the difference.”
FEBRUARY 2020
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