Weaving through the streets of London in an Uber taxi, often waiting in long lines of traffic, I have found my drivers to be engaging, informative and above all, willing to share their lives and experiences.

I have always enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life and from around the world; equally, I have always enjoyed travel to different countries and destinations and I am always keen to gain new experiences and contact.

One evening, I had to tell my driver that I might have to do a Radio interview in the back of the taxi, because my train was late getting into London and we probably wouldn't reach the hotel in time. As I had suspected, London traffic had beaten us before I could get to the hotel and when the phone rang from the Radio Station, he dutifully pulled into a side street and made sure that I had a quiet space to speak. My interview was all about the situation in Egypt and how the problems just did not lend themselves to restore confidence in Tourism. I expressed a number of reasons why this was the case and was careful to make sure that I offered solidarity for the Egyptian people and expressed my hope for a swift return to normality.

When I finished the interview, the driver turned around and told me that he thought what I had to say was both interesting and correct. He revealed to me that he as Egyptian, married to a Tunisian woman. He told me how they had both worked in Tourism, particularly in Sharm El Sheikh, and how the attacks in Tunisia, followed by the security problems following the Russian air crash had killed an Industry. He spoke eloquently about how he and others had continued to work in hotels, shops and restaurants, mostly for no money at all, in the hope that the Authorities would deal with the problem and bring about a quick return to normality. He understood the fears of Consumers – the Industry held the same fears! He told me that the thought of going to work and dying alongside your guests, made them feel that it was not right to put guests and themselves at risk.

I wondered about the general feeling of Egyptians and Tunisians. He spoke about love for country, the inability to earn enough money to buy even the essentials or support their families and living within a regime that delivers little benefit, makes people desperate. The loss of hope and fear drives people to think the unthinkable; leaving the home of their birth.

My taxi driver and his wife found their way to the UK; skilled and fluent, working and entrepreneurial, but with a sense of unease. Unease that a country doesn't want them and that they are seen as of no value. How did he feel about this? It wasn't his country but hoped that those around him would judge them for what they do and not what they read in the newspapers. What were his ambitions? To return to Egypt, to work in Tourism in a freer and prosperous country, with a fond memory of the UK.

We shook hands; he wished me well! I wished him more than I could give him. A man in his mid-forties, not afraid to travel several thousands of miles to safety, had to be admired!

It was several days later when my next Uber encounter brought me into contact with my Romanian driver. By this time, the debate of 'migrants' coming into the UK was at its height; the only thing missing was a call to lock up your daughters! He drove me back from a TV studio in the early morning to my hotel. The roads were quiet but our conversation gently bobbed around the level of traffic, the weather and then I asked him how long he had been in the UK.

He explained that he had been here for just over 12 months. I was curious; what did he make of all the talk about European migrants taking jobs? He thought the whole thing was a joke; it was obvious that he was weary of the subject. He explained to me that his real profession was working as an articulated lorry driver in Romania. His boss had wanted to give him a pay cut and as he was already on a low wage (low wages are apparently quite common in Romania), he challenged his boss to accept the same wage; he refused! For my driver, that settled it, he had to do something otherwise he would be condemned into middle age not achieving his one goal, to build and own his own house. He decided to research different EU countries and made up his mind to exercise his free movement rights and came to the UK. From the moment he set foot in the UK, he held a job. However, he was shocked by how little the wages were for driving a lorry in the UK. He told me how one agency tried to recruit him for a job, but the wage was exactly the same as what he would have received in Romania. He told me that all of the jobs on offer were filled by English drivers who were clearly willing to accept what he deemed to be low wages. He was in truth shocked by the discovery that English people were prepared to set their expectations so low and it was at that point he decided to work for himself.

I asked him what his plans were; quite simply, to make enough money to build a house in Romania and return home - he had a 5-year plan. What did he think about the way English people spoke about 'migrants'? He told me that he generally found British people to be open and welcoming but he was cautious. He thought much of the debate around him was based around ignorance and a failure to understand the lives of those who came to the UK. He explained that he was friendly with other 'migrants' and many of their stories were similar to his own; theirs was about working hard, building savings and returning back to their home countries. As for British people complaining about their 'low wages', he was in some ways unsympathetic. How he asked, could a once proud people allow themselves to be subjected to the excesses of the free market? Good question!

I was impressed by his focus and determination; there was no doubt in my mind that he would achieve his goals and at the end of my journey we wished each other well for the future.

Several days later, I took my next taxi, this time I was driven by a white Englishman. Without any prompting from me, he started to speak of how he had only recently started working as a taxi driver and that he had received financial support from his family to begin his new career. However, he spoke with so little confidence; it was one of those situations whereby you felt almost compelled to provide some kind of vocal reassuring support. His story revealed that he had for years worked in Industry but as had now become a common experience for many communities around the UK, manufacturing industry suffered its own decline at the gateway of a global market. His 20 plus years, in which he was confident in his work-space, had given way to an alien environment over which he felt he had no control.

At this stage he began to talk to me about how he was no longer sure of himself or whether he would carry on with the taxi business. His greatest uncertainty related to his views on the country he was born into in which he had up until recently, enjoyed a reasonable element of success and certainty. What he wondered was happening to England (there was no mention of other parts of the UK); rising migrant populations, pressure on the NHS, overcrowded schools and only low paid jobs because of immigration. I didn't want to get involved in this dialogue, but he wasn't going to let me off the hook; without hesitation, he asked me about what he had said and curiously what I thought about UKIP! I asked him why he had asked me about UKIP in particular; he told me that whilst he understood what they were saying, he wasn't sure about them and wanted to know what I thought.

When you are sat in the back of a taxi it is always wise to engage in that confessional experience with care! I explained to him that whilst I understood people's concerns, I wondered what factual or statistical basis existed to support the views of UKIP? My views were that here was a group of generally older people who were trying to present a world for Britons that had had its day; was the UKIP concept simply presenting an outlook of yesteryear without the necessary vision or the realities of the 21st Century? I carefully told him that we had to take care of any politician who presents what appears to be simple solutions to complex problems. I had felt for some time, that the country I had grown up in, had contributed to, was being repackaged into a form I did not recognise. I apologised to him if I had offended him; I genuinely did not mean to trounce on his beliefs. He explained to me that many of his beliefs had been shaken to the core and he was not sure what or who to believe. In that moment I felt that here was a fragile individual who probably repeated his thoughts many times during his day to his fellow passengers; I suspected that many treated him with some amusement and quite possibly indifference.

As our journey concluded, I offered him perhaps a cliché ending; to recognise the fact that even if running a taxi business is not ultimately for him, he had a skill-set from industry and was now gaining more experience through running a business. I told him that he should hold onto his worth and that a belief in himself and the world around him would insulate him from the changes around us. He shook my hand warmly; a man so adrift and so open to the insecurities peddled by our politicians, but I sensed that deep down he knew that he had to dismiss siren voices in order to restore his own self-worth and the previous 'normality' of his life!

I needed to get across London very quickly several days later and my next taxi driver was a well-built middle-aged Jamaican! As I got into his taxi the volume on his car radio blasted out the beat of popular songs; you know the type, songs to please the heart, ones that we all know and think we can recall all the words?

I asked him if this was his favourite radio station; he told me that it was but that he wanted to create an atmosphere in his cab, where his customers could escape the trials & pressures of the world around them. As one popular song played after the other, we spoke about how music has changed and whilst there were interesting and indeed talented modern day musicians, many were manufactured. We spoke of our children and how they had become addicted to a market-led form of music and expression; he had tried to introduce his children to a wider range of music and ideas with some degree of success.

I discovered that he had come to the UK because, like many immigrants, he was living a life without much hope for improvement. He was quite clear with me that he had come to the UK to try and find a better life, maybe one day to return home. What had changed for him however was the fact that he met his wife and had children. His goals changed, but his desire to return home has never diminished.

As the traffic snarled ahead of us, he talked about his upbringing and in particular his Mother. It was clear, even when in his early 20's, he was expected to 'toe-the-parental-line', even to the point of dressing up in his Sunday best to go to Church! At one stage he started to impersonate his Mother with the things she used to do and say. He demonstrated a look where his eyes shot almost impossibly to the side of his head! He told me that his Mother would use this look to demonstrate that you had reached the end of the line in your defiance. We both roared with laughter; for me, it was in that moment that a chord struck with me from my youth. I told him that because of his description of the discipline he faced and how he thought that it had set him up for life, that in my opinion we had both enjoyed the same Mothers - we were family! How we laughed, sharing the experiences of living with a Jamaican Mom and an Irish Mammy!

Our journey all too quickly came to an end, with great warmth but a recognition that here was a man who had come from across the ocean, carrying only his desire and a morality that provided a foundation for his life in the UK. There was also a personal similarity with this man and my Father, also an immigrant. Both had a longing for home; one did not live long enough to try and fulfill his dream, the other still had this within his sights. Only time would tell if this most interesting and funny man would finally achieve his goal.

The most moving journey came several days later.

I was picked up by a young driver from Sri Lanka. He was small in stature, with very fine features and a clear but very gentle voice, framed with a great smile. When I got into the car, I experienced some difficulty in attaching the seat belt which was caught within the seat. Without hesitation or frustration, he came and helped me untangle the seat-belt mess. As we started our journey I could see that his car was both luxurious and it was clear that he took great pride in his workplace.

I asked him how long he had been driving and he told me how he had sunk his savings into his vehicle to fulfill his strong desire to work for himself. He told me that he had come to this country when he was about 17 years of age and was now in his late 20’s. He spoke of his happiness of being in the UK, but he was also proud of his Tamil heritage. I was already familiar with the plight of the Tamil people and how at the height of the war against the Tamils, less than 100kms from the scenes of the worst atrocities, Travel Companies had been offering British Holidaymakers ‘unbelievable’ value all-inclusive holidays. For me it was a sign of a bankrupt commercial morality that introduced ‘unwitting’ Consumers into a luxury against the backdrop of starvation and death just a short distance away. But whilst the victors in this conflict continue to hold the belief in the justice of their cause, the International Community are denied access to investigate, not just their breaches of Human Rights but also the breaches of those same Rights by the Tamil separatists.

I asked him about life in Sri Lanka for him and his family. The experience had clearly left memories of aggression, war, denial of rights, hunger and loss. He spoke quietly and with authority of how the power in his country had deprived people of dignity and provided benefits to that power, often through corruption. For him it was a land without hope, without dignity and no prospect of a future life without fear. The pain and misery of existence created a strong desire to escape and so, before the worst of the excesses of conflict, he and his family decided to escape. He spoke without interruption, of his sadness following the ‘end’ of the conflict, at how many had been imprisoned and tortured and life in the north of Sri Lanka had become bleaker than ever.

His journey to Europe was difficult but I was curious; what if anything would persuade him to return to his homeland. Candidly he told me that he could not ever see a return, but, if the country ever returned to a true democracy, a country that confronted its past, removed corruption and fear and imposed the rule of law and respect for human rights, he would return. It was at this stage he spoke warmly of a land steeped in rich natural beauty; a tropical paradise.

All too suddenly the journey had ended. He helped me with my bag, clasped my hand with both of his and thanked me. I was disconcerted by his thanks but he explained it was because I had listened and understood his story and he wanted me to repeat his experience and that of his people.

Through these encounters I thought of my own Father, an immigrant, who had suffered suspicion and disrespect because of his Irish Nationality. But his experience was not solitary as this great poem, ‘No Irish Need Apply’ reveals. Despite being in the UK for 20 years, the Birmingham Pub Bombings exposed my Father to open hostility from his ‘work-mates’ where he was jostled and spat at; the raw course of human emotion & prejudice lies just below the surface waiting for the order to surface!

The 5 men I met, only connected by their Uber credentials, demonstrated a common humanity, a humanity driven by fear and circumstance. In a time when polarised opinion dictates aerosol thinking and expression, we sometimes forget that those around us have unique stories to tell and often reveal a search for survival; a quest for safety. Their stories are not new; generations of ‘huddled masses’ have travelled to faraway shores; the 21st Century is proving that political, economic and no doubt climatic pressures will bring new arrivals, experiences and fears – welcome to the ‘brotherhood’ of our global village!

All Rights Reserved - Frank Brehany © 2016 (First Published on 11/6/16)