When Faris Khalifa got the bus on a rainy day in Liverpool last week, he didn’t expect the bus driver to stop the bus, call him over and ask him to hop off to give an elderly homeless some money.

“The entire encounter left me emotionally speechless,” Khalifa wrote on Facebook, adding that the more he thought about the encounter, the more he wanted to reward the driver for his kindness.

“He made my and many other people’s day.”



Describing himself as “the closest thing Liverpool has to Oprah”, Khalifa called around local businesses asking if they’d donate something to give to the driver.

“The response I got back from local businesses was jaw dropping. Everyone I spoke to, without hesitation donated some of the coolest things ever,” he said, including a cheese basket, bottles of rum and bourbon, a burrito and a meal for two at a local restaurant.



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All Faris had to do was find the driver, who he knew only as Stephen. After speaking to bus company Arriva’s customer service, the Liverpool office helped track him down using the driver’s first name, route number and the time of day.

“So I get in touch with Ste and arrange to meet him under the pretence of giving him a thank you card (wish I had a hidden camera crew),” Faris explains. “He shows up and before I even say anything, he asks me if I’m going to town, hands me his old army sleeping bag and asks me to give it to someone who needs when I get there.



“This was the second time he nearly made me cry. This ex-army, married father of one is the embodiment of what this city is. Pure love for all who need it.”

All images courtesy of Faris Khalifa on Facebook