A call-out to a stranded motorist just off the M1 was no ordinary job for Mapperley's Shahaid Khan. He was floored when he realised who the marooned driver was - legendary former two-weight world champion Chris Eubank Senior - who had run out of fuel, quite literally.
But Mr Khan, of Delta Vehicle Movement, has to admit the job was a knockout. He says he got to meet his hero Eubank, who he used to watch on the telly fighting when he was a boy, and who has gone to to appear on Celebrity Gogglebox, and was in the 2015 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Mr Khan had no idea who the driver was until he arrived in his breakdown truck on Thursday, November 10, after 5.20pm. Eubank, who recently kept BBC viewers entertained during his appearance on the latest series of Celebrity MasterChef, did not make the call to Mr Khan but his passenger did.
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Mr Khan usually charges £80 minimum fee for a call-out. He said the passenger had told him there had been a warning light on the dashboard and they were blocking all the traffic.
"He wanted someone to come out to look at the light," Mr Khan told Nottinghamshire Live, who stressed his minimum charge to the caller. "They said they would prefer me to come out - and an £80 minimum fee was absolutely fine."
He was told the number plate was 1 KO - number one knockout - and headed over to the slip road of Junction 26 of the M1, leading to the roundabout of the A610, near Nuthall. When he arrived, he was informed that they did not really have a warning light on the dashboard - but they had run out of fuel.
"I wondered who it was," said Mr Khan, a married father to four-year-old Soha. "I put my beacons on and pulled up next to the Rolls-Royce. It was Chris Eubank, who held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles between 1990 and 1995, in the driver's seat.
"I instantly recognised him. I am a big boxing fan." With a small jerry can, Mr Khan made two trips for fuel to a BP garage on the A610 to fill up the large Rolls-Royce Wraith, which was in the far lane of the slip road.
Then Eubank, of Brighton, now with fuel, followed Mr Khan to Tesco petrol station, in Nuthall Road, in Cinderhill, where he filled up for Eubank with £105 worth of petrol, which was paid for in cash. Mr Khan said Eubank paid him £250 in cash.
The rescue job has been a massive boost for Mr Khan who only set up his business 'Delta Vehicle Movement', Nottingham, three months ago. Since posting on his Instagram he was called out to Eubank, his followers shot up from less than 200 to more than 1,000.
Eubank, he says, had thanked him for his services and said he hoped Mr Khan's business kicks off. "He was a really nice gentleman," said Mr Khan, aged 38. "It was the call-out of my life!" Eubank, meanwhile, has been spotted elsewhere in Nottinghamshire in recent days. Staff at the Heat Indian restaurant, in Gotham Road in East Leake, shared a photo of the legendary boxer in the restaurant in post on the restaurant's Facebook page.
"Chris Eubank, great guy. Was nice being able to cook a meal for him and getting high praises - thank you," the statement, posted on Friday morning (November 12), read.
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