When die-hard England football fans found out their flight to Germany was cancelled the day before the match, they hatched a last-minute plan to reach Düsseldorf with the help of an obliging taxi driver.
Having followed England around the world, including the recent World Cup in Qatar, John Powell, Mario Ferranti, Brett Barlow and his son, Oliver 17, weren’t going to let 500 miles get between them and England’s vital Euro 2024 quarter final against Switzerland last month.
Taxi . . .
They contacted Stoke-on-Trent taxi firm Cosy Cruise Travel Limited to see if they could get from Staffordshire to Düsseldorf in time. Taxi driver Arshad Mohammed not only agreed to the fare but also to bring them back home after the game, which went into extra time and then penalties before England progressed to the semi-finals against The Netherlands.
John, 46 told ITV: “We booked a sports package, a football plane, where everybody on the flight was to go to the match.
“But we had an email saying it had been cancelled on Wednesday evening. We should have gone last night (July 5).
“We just looked at every possibility to try and get the four of us there together. We looked at trains, planes, there was just nothing that was viable for a reasonable price.
“So, just off the cuff, somebody said: ‘What about getting a taxi’? We rang Arshad and he said yes. We have agreed a certain price but we are on a meter. We are going to the match and coming straight back after.”
The excited fans had a good journey to Dusseldorf, leaving at midnight and taking the Eurostar train.
Dedicated
John said: “We got the refund from the company we booked with. We still had the tickets to the match. We follow England all over. We needed to come to this one.
“I am pretty optimistic. If all goes well we will need to do the same trip on Wednesday.”
Brett, 47 said: “There was no way we were missing the match. We are going to get a few German beers in.
“We are [shattered], but hopefully we are going to win. It is a bit of adrenalin.
“Until Thursday, we did not know how we were getting here. We have been all around the world with England.
“We went to Qatar. We were not missing this on our doorstep.
“We are hoping to be back in the Potteries just before midday tomorrow (July 7).”
Mr Mohammed, 44, manager of Cosy Cruise Travel Limited, said: “They are regular customers and use us for airports.
“The customers have booked me a hotel. As soon as I get there, I am going to get my head down.
“I am going to catch up on some sleep, freshen up and go back for them after the match.
“I am delighted to be able to help my customers. It is a bit of a different job, a bit of a new experience. It is my first venture abroad in the taxi.
“Maybe I will be in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest taxi fare going!”
It was certainly a long-haul cab ride and might have been England’s lucky charm on the night.
But it has some way to go to beat the Guinness Book of Records winner for the longest journey by taxi, set by Leigh Purnell, Paul Archer and Johno Ellison in 2011. The trio left Covent Garden, by black cab on February 17, 2011, and travelled 43,319.5 miles around the globe, before returning to Covent Garden on May 11 the following year, with a metered fare of £79,006.80!
