Popular taxi driver will be ‘sadly missed’

TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘loving husband and father,’ known for going ‘out of his way to help others,’ who died after he tested positive for coronavirus.

Rafique Meah, a taxi driver with more than 30 years’ experience, passed away at his home, having been diagnosed with the virus earlier this month.

The dad-of-two, who lived with his family in Grassington Road, Aspley, died on Monday at the age of 57.

His cousin Shahin Meah, 46, said: “He got his NHS test result back on January 17, that was positive. “He had no symptoms prior to that. He was feeling just a little bit unwell, he thought it might have been linked to some other health condition, that prompted him to go and get a test.

“He was a very resilient man, he did not want to put any additional burden on the NHS. He felt as if he could have got through this, otherwise he would have admitted himself.”

Father-of-two Shahin, a technology director who lives in Harlaxton Drive, Lenton, added: “He was a very loving husband, he and his wife had a very close, loving relationship.

“His daughter just left for university, she was a Nottingham Girls’ High School student.

“She did very well and went on to study English at Glasgow University.”

Rafique’s funeral was arranged for Tuesday, with a service at a mosque in Hyson Green and the burial at High Wood Cemetery, Bulwell.

Speaking of his cousin’s career, Shahin said: “He was born in Nottingham and he was the son of a first wave immigrant, his father was called Captan Meah, who opened one of the first Indian restaurants in Nottingham in 1958.

“He [Rafique] had a very interesting life, he started out as an accounts clerk for a company in Carlton Road. It was a textiles company.

“When that company folded he then was working in the restaurant industry for a number of years, he was working in the family business.

“He was great with customers, they used to love him and come back especially for his kind personality and the way he used to treat them.

“He was very funny, warm and accommodating. His first venture was in the family restaurant called the Asian Deluxe, also in Alfreton Road - and then he worked in the Golden Curry, in Arkwright Street.”

In the early 1990s, Shahin said his cousin began to work part-time as a taxi driver “just to supplement his income”.

Shahin added: “It was something he enjoyed doing. He used to do a couple of jobs at the time and then in 2008 he went full-time into the taxi industry.”

Rafique worked for Nottingham Cars and employee Haji Farooq Ali, 56, described him as “very helpful gentleman”.

Mr Ali, who works in administration for the company, explained Rafique had worked for Nottingham Cars for more than 30 years.

“He will be very sadly missed personally by me, I have known him for a long time and he has always been helpful.”

Azeem Hanif, chair of the Nottingham branch of the App Drivers’ and Courier Union, also paid tribute.

He said: “He was one of the founding members of our union, when we first formed about threeand-a-half years ago here in Nottingham.

“He was very active in recruiting drivers to that union. He was a very humble man and always went out of his way to help others, especially new drivers looking to come into the profession.

“He was very, very well-known and very popular within the Nottingham driver community. It’s a great loss to us as a driver community, it’s still pretty raw to be fair.”

An online fundraising page has been sent up towards a special tribute in Bangladesh.

Mr Hanif said: “He’s of Bangladesh heritage and he did a lot of charity work in Bangladesh.

“We had an idea in setting up a Gofundme page in his memory to build a waterwell in Bangladesh. We’d like to build that in his honour.”

Money can be donated at www. gofundme.com/f/raffique-bhaimemorial-fund