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Liverpool local and Manchester business owner Jordan Stevenson was lying in bed scrolling through Twitter when he learned of the Manchester bombing in which 22 people, including children, were killed.
"As it escalated from a 'bang' to a 'explosion' to a 'bombing', I decided that I wanted to help in any way that I can," the 23-year-old told ABC News.
The offer to give people lifts quickly went viral.
"[After tweeting] I then went to brush my teeth and returned three minutes later to almost 700 retweets already. So I put my jeans on and drove in that direction waiting for an imminent request for help," he said.
Mr Stevenson spent more than five hours from midnight giving lifts out of Manchester, helping three groups of people.
He said some of his passengers were "panicked" after witnessing the "bang" and the stampede.
"Most people thought it was balloon popping — as Ariana Grande had huge two-metre balloons at the performance. Then they heard screaming and saw the stampedes — so they all ran," Mr Stevenson said.
"It was so surreal, you just don't even think it would happen in your area."
Mr Stevenson said he was proud of the region for pulling together.
"This city is in one of the tightest-knitted countries on our planet," he said.
"Thousands have of people have offered their support — offering time, shelter, food, care and love."
Taxis were also offering their services for free.
Single crowdfunding campaign raises nearly $1m
A crowdfunding campaign started by the Manchester Evening News has raised more than 650,000 pounds ($842,000) and continues to rise.
The media outlet began the campaign in response to its readers asking how they could help.
People have also been rushing to donate blood, with Give Blood NHS tweeting its hospital bank targets had been met.
Woman takes teens to shelter
Paula Robinson, 48, was at the train station next to the arena with her husband when she felt the blast and saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from the arena.
"We ran out," she told Reuters. "It was literally seconds after the explosion. I got the teens to run with me."
Ms Robinson said she took dozens of teenage girls to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel and tweeted out her phone number to worried parents telling them to meet her there.
She said her phone had not stopped ringing since her tweet.
There are conflicting reports about whether children were being kept safely at the Holiday Inn, with the hotel telling the Mirror there were no unaccompanied children at the venue.
Other locals opened their doors to stranded concert-goers using the hashtag #roomformanchester to offer their homes.
Homeless heroes helped injured children
Two homeless men have also been praised as unlikely heroes following the bombing.
Steve Jones and Chris Parker were in the area to sleep and beg for money when they witnessed the blast.
Mr Parker reportedly said he held a woman in his arms while she passed away, while Mr Jones told ITV News he helped children who had been blasted with nails.
"It was children with blood all over them, they were crying and screaming. We were having to pull nails out of their arms and a couple out of a little girl's face," he said.
ABC/Reuters
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, death, community-and-society, human-interest, united-kingdom
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