Liverpool’s ‘taxi family’ rally in support of ‘hero’ driver after car explosion

Liverpool’s ‘taxi family’ have spoken out in support of the driver believed to have escaped a car explosion at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday.

Jenny Phillips, Managing Director of Blueline Five-0 taxis has named the driver as David Perry and said he is now at home “resting with his family” after initially being admitted to hospital.

A Facebook page set up by Ms Phillips to help Mr Perry has raised nearly £15,000.

CCTV footage has emerged showing the taxi driver escaping from the car after the explosion.

Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said: “The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital.”

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Our thanks go to him and our emergency services, and authorities have worked through the night to divert anything further and we’ve all been on standby and in constant contact to provide any support that’s needed.”

Fundraising for Mr Perry

Ms Phillips, who set up the Facebook fundraising page, wrote: “David has injuries and burns and will obviously have further anxiety and trust issues to ever be able to carry out what he loved doing the most.

“We ask can you support David and his family by donating anything you can, we are at tough times anyway and I appreciate Christmas is imminent, but would we be celebrating if it wasn’t for David Perry?”

She added: “David doesn’t work for me but he is still part of a very big taxi family, we all are.”

Ms Phillips said she hadn’t set up the page for publicity but that it was “simply to help a good guy who didn’t deserve this, and has a lot of recovery to do but deserves a medal for his actions”.

What happened?

Three men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act and a man died following the a car explosion on Sunday.

Counter terrorism police, who are leading the investigation, made the arrests.

The incident took place on Remembrance Day, 14 November, just before the national two-minute silence was due to begin.

Merseyside Police said that the car involved was understood to be a taxi, which pulled up at the hospital at 10:59 in the morning.

The male passenger in the car was declared dead at the scene and is yet to be formally identified.

The taxi driver - also a man - was injured in the explosion.

The three arrested men - aged 29, 26, and 21 - were detained later on Sunday in the Kensington area of the city, police said.

Phil Garrigan, Chief Fire Officer of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, told reporters at the scene: “The operational crews extinguished the fire rapidly but as has been reiterated by the police chief constable, there was one fatality.

“Another individual had left the vehicle prior to the fire developing to the extent that it did.”