A GRATEFUL Yeadon couple have thanked a quick thinking taxi driver who rescued them from their smoke filled home.

Firefighters say if it had not been for Scott Sampson's swift action Bob Smith, 41, and his girlfriend Marjory Angus, 48 - who were asleep when the blaze started - could have died.

Mr Sampson, 29, who works for Guiseley-based SJK Private Hire, was on his way to Leeds Bradford International Airport with a fare when he spotted smoke coming from the semi-detached house on Glenmere Mount just before 4am last Thursday morning.

He said: "As we passed the end of Glenmere Mount I spotted smoke and stopped.

"The coal shed at the side of the house was on fire so I got the customer to radio through to our operator to ask him to call 999 while I started pounding on the door.

"I was shouting 'come out, come out' and heard a woman shout 'I can't' so I kicked through the front door.

"The house was full of thick black smoke and you couldn't see a thing. I'd gone about three quarters of the way up the stairs when I joined hands with the lady. I then led her down the stairs and outside to safety while she led her boyfriend.

"When I went into all that smoke I did not think ' what am I doing' but I just did what anyone else would have done."

Postman Mr Smith said: "We were very lucky because the firemen said another ten minutes and we wouldn't have been able to get out.

"I think what he did was marvellous - he's a real hero and I wish there were more like him because a lot of people would have driven past and not done anything.

"We didn't really get a chance to thank him at the time but would like to thank him very much for what he did."

Reliving the drama, he added: "There was nothing at all in the bedroom but when we went out on to the landing there was just a wall of smoke.

"We were still half asleep but it was really scary - the electricity had gone off so it was completely dark and you couldn't see a thing."

A spokesman for Rawdon Fire Station said: "The taxi driver did a really good job - there wasn't a smoke detector at the house and if it hadn't been for him they may not have woken up and could have died."

Two fire appliances from Rawdon and Cookridge attended the fire which it is believed may have been started deliberately.

It was limited to a storage outhouse although a mass of thick black smoke had seeped into the house's living area.

Two firemen wearing breathing apparatus went into the house and used a positive pressure ventilator to pump the smoke out of the house.

Pictured is Mr Sampson, centre, with Marjory Angus and Bob Smith. (T&A pic)

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