I presume he had some sort of covid screen between the back and front which protected him to a degree,....
The taxi driver is also very lucky that the main charge appears not to have detonated (or the device was low yield). A horrible experience to live through but live he thankfully did. MoH
I would have loved there to have been a taxi security camera filming the rear seat, the ones they use for protection..... I think you know where I'm coming from...
His ship hit a mine and started to sink just outside Antwerp, 3 men died, 2 others lay injured, my grandad was a donkeyman ( ship’s engine room, worse place to be if your ship get mined or torpedoed ) all but the captain abandoned ship ( captain were men of honour in those days ) and my grandfather. He tended to the mens wounds and stayed until another ship came alongside to take off the injured. The last person to leave was the captain but a moment before it was my grandad’s turn. What made it a real act of courage was the cargo they were transporting, weapons and explosives. At any moment the lot could of gone up. Another weird thing was the day and month, 15th of December, I was born exactly 16 years later…..He got several medals and oak leafs, one of them being the BEM. 5ft 1 but the bravery of a lion, I get emotional every time I think of it. I have to go to the palace next year to receive a copy of the medal, his original was stolen when he passed away in 1970. A thief and hero, I know who I’d rather have in my corner……
My mother got a BEM for her work on an ack ack battery defending the Spitfire factory at Southampton. Never knew until I was 14 when I found it tucked away in a cupboard when I was looking for something.
She sounds like my grandad, I didn’t know anything about it until recently. My mum said dad came home and never said a word. She thought he was lying when he said he had to go to the palace the following year. The queen’s father presented him with it. I have the write up that was in the London gazette at the time, a historian I know said it was unusual to have such a large piece about a non combative usually it was a cpl of lines.
To do that took immeasurable courage, what a man. If there's one thing British people are good at, it's tackling bullshit extremism. Locking terrorists in taxis, fighting off people with whale harpoons, brilliant.
Has it been confirmed that the driver locked the door? The last I read was that although people were saying it happened the driver himself hasn't spoken and the counter terrorism people haven't confirmed it either. I'd hate for this to become one of those urban myths that morphs into truth. If the driver actually didn't lock the doors he's got a rotten decision to make at some point.
