The cabbie was driving along Milton Road, Hartlepool, in the early hours of Saturday morning when he came across the 39-year-old man who had been stabbed in the street.

The victim, who was with his wife and a friend, was covered in blood.
His frantic wife had called for an ambulance. But they appealed to the taxi driver to get him to hospital immediately.

He drove the all three people to the University Hospital of Hartlepool and the victim was later transferred to the University Hospital North Tees, in Stockton.

The modest cabbie, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Mail: "It was about 1.30am when I came in to the street and the lad who was injured shouted at me to take him to hospital.

"As he came closer to me I could see he had blood all over his body and it was dripping everywhere from him. He must have been in a lot of pain.

"The girl who was with him said she had called for an ambulance but it was going to be about ten minutes.

"Personally, I wasn't happy with that and because he was in such a serious condition I drove him to hospital."

Detectives have praised the driver's public spirit, saying his actions probably proved vital.

The driver added: "It is nice to be nice, we are all human beings at the end of the day and should help each other out.

"It is a sad world and it is very, very scary."