Recruitment consultant invokes the Spirit of Manchester with offer of lifts
A Wigan-based recruitment consultant is just one of many people within the Greater Manchester area to have invoked the ‘Spirit of Manchester’ offering help to anyone caught up in Monday night’s tragic events at the Manchester arena.
On Monday night, 22 people lost their lives after a bomb was detonated in a terrorist attack at a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
The BBC reported the Prime Minister paid tribute to the “great spirit” of Manchester when she visited the city yesterday, while stories of kindness emerged in the wake of the attack, with people within the local community offering free lifts home and rooms for the night to people caught up in the attack.
One of those people was Chris Shields, an operations manager at recruitment agency NMS Recruit, who posted on LinkedIn he was offering a lift home to anyone who was stuck in the area, adding he had four spare seats in his car and his contact number.
When approached by Recruiter for comment this morning about his offer, Shields said: “I was up in bed – news on. I was glued. I saw there was no transport, as they stopped the trains. I thought – you know what? That’s going to be the main way people get in and out.
“I thought I can’t just sit here and do nothing about it. I felt helpless. We’re used to things like this happening in London, where it is out of my reach, where I can’t directly help but when it’s 25 minutes up the road – about 17 miles away – the first thing I thought was I need to help people.”
While Shields did not receive a call from anyone asking for him to pick them up, he did get calls from people asking for directions which he was able to help with due to his intimate knowledge of the Manchester area.
“I spoke to people over the phone – helping them, directing them. I didn’t get a call to actually pick anyone up. They probably found ways and means there, which is probably quicker than me coming to get them, but I helped and directed people just through me knowing my way around Manchester.”
And this was not the only way Shields was able to help as he revealed he has a rare blood type and put his name down with the local authority to give blood.
“They have just been inundated with people just turning up at blood banks. I needed to help in some way and not just sit there and do nothing.”
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