Tahir Farooq, who ran Dial a Ride Taxis in Bradford and Shipley, has died after a heart attack. He was 60.
His son, Shamas Farooq, said his father bought the firm in 1989 and had always been a taxi driver. The family sold it in 2019. In November 2025 they opened ExpressRide, the Bradford private hire firm now trading as XpressRide.
The name customers asked for
Shamas said his father had been picking the same people up since they were at primary school, and that customers were like family to him. If someone was stuck in Leeds they would tell the controller to send Car Zero. Late at night, he said, they would only use the firm because of that trust.
A tribute from Bradford Pakistanis called him a familiar and respected face in Bradford’s taxi trade, and a friendly, caring man who had helped a lot of people. His nephew, Shaban Hussain, said he treated the drivers like his own children.
The funeral
The funeral was on Wednesday 8 October. Shamas said he was shocked by how many people knew his father. Shaban said customers turned up alongside the family, and that the upstairs of the mosque was full. He put the crowd in the thousands. That is the family’s account of the day, not an official count.
Shaban said that even at the end his uncle was smiling, and that the loss is the community’s as well as the family’s.