The heartbroken family of a popular Scots taxi driver have paid tribute to the 'legend' after he tragically took unwell while on a job.
Alex Watson had been working a night shift on Monday January 9 in East Lothian when he started to feel chest pains behind the wheel. The 76-year-old, who ran Burgh Taxis, sadly passed away later that night after suffering from a heart attack.
Now, his grieving loved ones are looking to track down his passenger who battled to save the driver's life. The passenger performed CPR on the dad-of-two after he suddenly took unwell.
Alex managed to pull over safely despite his medical emergency and sat in the back seat as medics raced to his aid. When they arrived, they continued to work on Alex for a further hour before he was rushed to hospital.
Sadly, he passed away at 9.40pm that night. Alex's eldest daughter, Jackie Edmond, has led the tributes following her father's death and has told how his life revolved around his family.
The 52-year-old told Edinburgh Live: "My dad took a massive heart attack, he owned Burgh Taxis and while driving he pulled over as he had a pain in his chest. He also had a passenger in the car who did CPR on my dad but unfortunately he passed away.
"We just want to say to the person, a big thank you for trying. We are really grateful and also thinking about how devastating this will have been for them too. We are totally heartbroken.
"He is in a partnership and owns Burgh Taxis. That day he went to work, left at around 8pm and he was absolutely fine. Later that night, police came to the door and said he was in resus. He had been driving when he took a pain in his chest and stopped the car.
"He went to the back seat then his passenger did CPR and an ambulance arrived then medics worked on my dad for an hour. It happened in Musselburgh but died at 9.40pm, he is well known in Musselburgh and came from there."
Alex was born in Musselburgh and was married to wife, Betty. Together, they have two children and a number of grandkids, who are heartbroken at the loss.
Jackie added: "He loved driving the taxi and worked six days a week full time, his time for coming home was 5.15pm with his tea on the table. We asked him to retire but he wouldn’t.
"He was a typical man - old-fashioned. His focus was his family always worried about us if we were happy he was too in his own way. Nobody was allowed to worry about him. Everything was fine with him, he had a sense of humour and when he swore we used to say 'Dad!" and he would always say 'well I was a miner down the out, no airs and graces from me.'
"He did all the school runs and all the kids loved him. He was 76 and didn’t look it at all. He doted on his grandkids and great-grandkids loved going on holiday with his family."
She added: "Don’t get me wrong he was a character but also a legend."
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