A hospital porter who won a car in a generous NHS giveaway turned good Samaritan just moments after getting behind the wheel, helping a broken-down mum.
Proving the adage that one good turn leads to another, Giles Barr-Thomson helped a woman jump-start her vehicle within his first 15 minutes of owning the Nissan Primera.
“It was really quite ironic,” he said.
“I had only had the car 15 minutes and we decided to go to Tesco and this lady tapped on the window and asked if we could jump start her car.
“It was our first trip to get food. I popped the lid and it all worked fine.”
Mr Barr-Thomson, a father of seven, collected the car at the weekend from Harrison Bailey who said he didn’t need it and hoped an NHS worker or carer could make good use of it and stay safe.
The James Paget University Hospital porter whose busy life sees him juggling shifts, family errands, and trips to the community martial arts hub he runs in Lowestoft - all by public transport - said he was “still in shock.”
“It is going to be a huge help. We are just overjoyed to be offered it,” he added.
“The fact that we could just go to a couple of shops quickly and easily is brilliant. It would have taken us ages before.
“The simple things, just going from A to B can be so hard without a car. I have been finishing shifts and having to jump on a bus.
“We work four days on and four days off and everytime we go back there’s new rules and regulations.”
Before handing it over Mr Bailey, a hobby mechanic with his own YouTube channel - The ZX Guy - gave the car a thorough once-over to make sure everything topped up and ready to go.
Mr Barr-Thomson set up Ruckus MMA (mixed martial arts) and Fitness Gym around 18 months ago.
A former kick-boxing instructor he said the aim was to get as much community involvement as possible with groups able to train in a setting which was all set up for them.
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