'Manchester is not the same': Taxi driver who helped victims says city is deserted after attack

A Manchester tax driver who helped victims of Monday’s horrifying terror attack says that his city is not the same since the atrocity.

Aj Singh offered free lifts to stranded and injured people after the bombing in the city centre.

He told Yahoo News UK that the city was yet to recover.

He said: ‘Manchester is very quiet. There are a lot of armed police walking the streets, which I’ve never seen before here.

‘You wouldn’t think it was Manchester, it’s shocking.

‘Manchester’s not the same, it’s completely deserted. If you go there now it looks like it’s two in the morning, there’s no one about.’

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Aj, who lives in Altrincham, was one of many heroic Mancunians who rushed to the aid of strangers on Monday.

He said: ‘I was in bed and got a phone call a phone call at about 11 pm asking if I was ok. I thought my friend was messing about trying to prank call me.

‘So I turned on the TV and then realised what had happened, so I jumped in my car and went straight to Manchester to see how I could help.

‘A lot of people were stranded and didn’t have any money or phones. A lot of them were hurt and bleeding. There were nails in people’s bodies. It was horrific. It was horrible.

‘There were little children crying with blood all over them.’

Aj gave dozens of people free lifts home and to hospital on Monday night, refusing payment from his passengers.

Explaining his actions, he said: ‘At the end of the day it’s my duty to be part of the Manchester community and the Manchester family. We stick like glue and we help each other.’

22 people were killed and hundreds were injured when suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself up just after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.

The UK terror threat has since been upgraded to its highest level of ‘critical’, and armed police are on the streets across the country.

Several people, including children, are still missing and 20 people are in a critical condition in hospital.