PEOPLE across the district have shown true Yorkshire grit, pulling together to help each other out during the worst snowfall Bradford has seen in years.

One of those who proved to be a Good Samaritan in the snow was George Brown, who ferried patients and staff to the district’s three main hospitals.

Mr Brown, 36, decided to put his four-wheel drive vehicle to good use to transport stranded people to and from Bradford Royal Infirmary, St Luke’s Hospital and Airedale General.

On Wednesday night, he had posted a message on Facebook urging anyone who urgently needed to fulfil hospital appointments, or work shifts, to contact him. Due to the wintry weather, the self-employed builder was unable to work and wanted to give something back.

His desire to help was triggered by the assistance he himself received from emergency services following a fire in the kitchen of his house in Haworth Road, Cross Roads, in January this year.

He was awoken when his family dog began barking loudly and came downstairs to discover the kitchen and dining room ablaze. While the fire was contained to the back of the property, the entire house has been affected by smoke damage and his family have been living in hotels or temporary accommodation.

Yesterday morning, he was inundated with requests, not only from the Bradford district, but further afield in Huddersfield and Wakefield.

His continuous journeys included taking one renal nurse to their workplace at 6am, taking a girl from her Keighley home to Airedale General and making various drop-offs at St Luke’s Hospital and BRI.

Mr Brown said: “I have been all over. I got up at 5.30am to get my car ready for the road. I just decided to help others.

“The night before I did it I was thinking about what I could do to help the emergency services. I put the message up and it went absolutely crackers.”

One of those to benefit from his kindness was Nicola Tate, 37, of Greengates. She suffers from end stage renal failure and has special needs, and has dialysis treatment at St Luke’s three times a week.

Her mother got stuck in the snow trying to take her to St Luke’s and then messaged Mr Brown, who arrived at their home and had transported her to hospital within an hour yesterday morning. He also picked her up after her appointment.

Her sister, Zoe McNulty, said: “We are so grateful to him for doing this. He deserves all of the credit he gets.

“He has not taken a single penny and was using his own car.”

An Airedale General spokesperson said they were grateful to everyone who was helping to keep services running.

A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We’d like to thank Mr Brown for his fantastic support in helping our staff get to work safely. It’s always heartening to see the offers of help for the NHS in exceptional circumstances.”

Meanwhile, patients were told not to travel into BRI, St Luke’s and Westwood Park Diagnostic and Treatment Centre for all non-urgent outpatient and appointments or surgeries yesterday, as the wintry weather took its toll.

A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would ask patients to please stay at home and wait to hear from us about dates for rearranged appointments and operations. We apologise to patients for any inconvenience caused and we will aim to send out details of new appointments in the next few days. However, if patients have managed to reach hospital for an outpatient appointment, we will try and see them as planned.”

Of Airedale General, Stacey Hunter, chief operating officer, said: “I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all our hospital and community staff who have made such extraordinary efforts to get to work to care for our patients in these difficult conditions. I’d also like to thank our partners for their support, in particular our ambulance services. “If you have a clinic appointment or operation please ring before setting off to check that it is still going ahead. We are only cancelling where absolutely necessary, but we don’t want you to have a wasted journey.”

Haworth Baptist Church, in one of the worst-hit areas for snow, opened its doors to the community yesterday, showing movies for children and inviting families to come inside the heated building for a picnic.

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, (Con, Worth Valley) said: “It is a great thing for them to do, because sometimes children can go a little stir crazy. I’ve seen on Facebook a few people round here with 4x4s offering to get people’s shopping or to get them to hospital appointments for free.

“I’ve seen a real community spirit. I think a lot of people realise the council can’t clear every road and a lot of people will need help.”

In Great Horton, council wardens and parishioners of St John’s Church braved the cold to clear the paths around the church to make sure its food bank could remain open for people in need.

Yesterday also saw many flights from Leeds Bradford Airport grounded, with Jet2 and Ryanair cancelling all their flights to and from the airport.

Phil Forster, aviation development and corporate affairs manager, said: “Safety and security is of paramount importance and Leeds Bradford Airport would like to thank all of its passengers for their co-operation.”