Hero walked miles in a blizzard to deliver blood supplies (From Daily Echo)

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Southampton cabbie Abdirashid Issa walked miles to deliver blood to Hampshire hosptial

1:14pm Wednesday 23rd December 2009 in Southampton Photograph of the Author By Tara Russell, News Reporter

Abdirashid Issa

HE is a true Christmas hero.

For thousands of people caught in snow chaos, getting home safely was the priority in the treacherous conditions.

But one Southampton man went beyond his call of duty to help save lives.

Taxi driver Abdirashid Issa abandoned his car in huge tailbacks and trekked through a blizzard for four miles in freezing temperatures to deliver vital emergency blood supplies to a hospital.

He was then stranded overnight before he made the four-mile trek back to get his car yesterday morning.

Mr Issa, who works for Central Shirley Cars, was on an emergency assignment to take blood from Southampton General Hospital and deliver it to hospitals in Winchester and Basingstoke for doctors to treat emergency patients on operating tables.

The round-trip, which usually takes the married dad of three from St Mary’s one-and- a-half hours, turned into a nightmare when thick snow paralysed Hampshire’s transport network.

Mr Issa, who moved to England from Somalia in Africa six years ago with his wife Iasha, set off with the blood at 5pm and managed to get to Winchester hospital in good time to make the precious delivery by 5.45pm.

Dreadful conditions meant he did not reach Basingstoke until 11pm – almost five hours later – and when he got to the worst affected area of Hampshire he was powerless to escape the gridlocked traffic.

He said: “It was very important. It said ‘urgent blood’ and if someone needed it I had to make sacrifices because they might be dying.

“I could have stayed in my heated car but I had to do it.”

He described the road conditions as “horrible”.

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“You can’t imagine how terrible it was, very slow and very slippery. No cars were moving,” said Mr Issa.

“When I got there, everywhere you looked there were abandoned cars – some in the middle of the road – and you could not access Basingstoke. I could not move at all.”

Mr Issa abandoned his car near to a roundabout just off the M3 exit and set off on foot with the blood, wading through thick snow and ice for an hour to follow the signs to the hospital A&E department four miles away to hand the blood supply to doctors at midnight.

The brave dad, stranded in Basingstoke when all the hotels were full, then spent the night on a waiting room chair until he made the four-mile walk back to retrieve his car at 7am yesterday and returned to Southampton.

A spokesman for the North Hampshire hospital in Basingstoke said: “We want to say a big thank you to this heroic taxi driver who has gone beyond the call of duty for the good of our patients. It is just exceptional.”

Central Shirley Cars’ managing director Fred Terry added: “He is so dedicated to his job and what he has done is unbelievable.

“I am so proud of him and all our drivers and it just shows what they will do to get the job done. It is out of this world.”

Comments(20)

RJCogburn says...
1:31pm Wed 23 Dec 09

Well done Mr Issa. A "Pride of Britain" nomination ought to be appropriate.