CAB Business Solutions

A Dorset taxi driver has been hailed a hero after he "saved the life" of a passenger who suffered a cardiac arrest in the back of his cab.

Stuart Smith picked up Aiden Smith, 22, a kidney transplant patient with a string of health problems, in Poole on 15 October.

The 39-year-old cab driver has no medical training but was told by the 999 operator how to perform CPR.

He managed to keep his passenger alive until paramedics arrived.

Aiden thanked Stuart for saving his life when the taxi driver visited him in the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Unsung hero

Gary White, general manager of Poole Radio Cabs, where Stuart works, said: "It's all in a day's work for a taxi driver.

"He is an unsung hero. It's people like this that should be getting OBEs and MBEs.

"Somebody like this who has saved a life. It's amazing really."

Stuart, who lives in Hamworthy in Poole, said: "He had some sort of fit or seizure and stopped breathing in the car.

"I pulled in as soon as I could, dialled 999. I got him out of the car with the help of a passer-by, laid him out on the pavement and had to do chest compressions.

"The lady on the phone told me how to do it because I have never done it before.

"I was quite shaken up by it when the reality hit me, but luckily the chap survived.

"There was nobody else around, I had to help.

"The only thing I thought about at the time was trying to save the chap.

"I do feel proud of myself knowing I have definitely made a difference to somebody else."