Ukraine war: London cab driver leads convoy to help refugees

Mr Westfall drove 13 hours to the Polish capital

A London taxi driver who led a convoy of black cabs transporting Ukrainian refugees from Poland says the experience has changed him forever.

Matt Westfall, 52, raised more than £11,000 to get six black cabs, one car, and one van across to Poland to deliver humanitarian aid to refugee camps set up near the Ukrainian border.

Mr Westfall arrived home on Wednesday and said "there are no words" to describe the four-day trip.

"Pain, heartbreak, relief," he said.

"It changed me forever," the driver from Buckhurst Hill, Essex, added.

"I can't comprehend what they've been through, all I can do is try and smile and do what I can for them."

The convoy transported refugees trying to reach cities across Europe from Poland, which has taken in 2,144,244 refugees, as of 22 March.

Ten million people have now fled their homes in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Polish humanitarian aid centres like this one have been set up near the Ukrainian border

Mr Westfall, who has been a taxi driver for 11 years, decided to launch a GoFundMe page for the cause when he saw an online video of a Ukrainian father saying goodbye to his family as he left them to enlist in the military.

With the help of more than £6,700 donated on the fundraising site and contributions from the London Taxi Drivers' Association and Eclipse Rent-A-Taxi, Mr Westfall set off on Sunday with a group of taxi drivers he had recruited.

The group drove 13 hours to Warsaw in Poland where they delivered aid such as sanitary products, baby food, nappies, and toilet roll, and picked up two families per vehicle to drive back across the continent.

"I had a mum and daughter in my cab, they were going to Munich. Three families were going to Hamburg where they have family and friends," Mr Westfall explained.

"And one [driver] is in Dunkirk now, they're waiting on visas ... they've got sponsors, family in Notting Hill, so [he is] waiting until they've got a visa and he will drive them to Notting Hill either today or tomorrow."

He described the emotional conversation he had with a Ukrainian mother he took to Munich.

"We asked the lady in our taxi, 'Do you think you'll go back?' and she said, 'To what? My flat is gone, I've got nothing to go back to - I don't know what to do.'

"She said, 'I would love to go back to my country, I really want to go back but I have nothing to go back to'."

Mr Westfall hopes to make the journey again when he is able to.