'Man with van' drives hundreds of miles across Europe in mission to help Ukrainian refugees

A 'man with a van' has driven more than 1,000 miles in three days to help Ukranian refugees.

Hotelier Paul Kenwright, boyfriend of Hemel Hempstead businesswoman Angeline Cottrill, is driving his van across Europe to transport vital supplies, donated by members of the public, to a refuge centre in Poland for fleeing women and children.

And he is currently taking stranded Ukrainian families from the Polish border to safe places across Europe in search of a new home.

"What he is doing is astonishing," said Angeline, 46, who is a quality manager for a private medical company. "Paul has always been the kindest of people, but this has blown me away,

"His selflessness and humility are amazing. He has driven more than 1,000 miles in three days, and he is still in good spirits.

"I am so impressed and so proud. Yet he just wants to be known as the man with a van who is doing what he can.

"He stresses that he couldn't do it without the love and support of others. He says it is very much a team effort, and that he is just the front man."

Paul, who lives in High Wycombe, and Angeline were meant to be in Budapest last week, celebrating his 50th birthday. But after watching the war in Ukraine unfold on TV, Paul felt it wouldn't be right to go.

"He felt so touched and helpless," said Angeline. "But then we saw a Facebook post by a lady called Anna Kobusinska, who was running a hub in High Wycombe for donations to Ukrainian people.

"She was advertising for a driver to go to Poland and, straight away, Paul said he'd do it.

"He has an old van, which had been stuck under a tree for six months. He scrubbed it up and got 'Humanitarian Aid' stickers put on the side. A garage in Bracknell gave it a free service, and he set off for Poland, via a ferry to France, last Friday morning."

It was an extraordinary, and potentially dangerous, mission. But Paul, who used to run a company called Virtual Computer Games with a chain of shops in the Bracknell area, is no stranger to intrepid adventure.

Angeline describes him as "a real man who can". He enjoys off-roading in his Jeep, he races his Golf GTI car at top tracks such as Oulton Park in Cheshire and, in the past, he has raced in speedboats and run the London Marathon.

He can be firmly classed as a man of action, and proved it as he steered his van from France, through Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, with the help of Waze, before arriving at the refuge centre in the Polish town of Bielawa. The trek amounted to 980 miles in 30 hours.

Once hundreds of boxes of supplies, such as warm clothes, tents, sleeping bags, duvets and blankets, nappies, baby food, toiletries, first-aid kits, colouring books and batteries, had been unloaded, Paul grabbed a few hours' sleep before hitting the road again.

This time, he was off to the Polish border with Ukraine, where another hub for refugees was awaiting his help.

"Paul describes this hub as a real hell-hole," said Angeline. "It is freezing cold and there are people outside cooking on barrels of flames. He says it is uncoordinated chaos, and he is shocked at what he can see."

Paul is expected to be at this hub until the end of the week, transporting refugees to various towns and cities of safety.

Many want to go to Warsaw, Poland''s capital. But Paul's first assignment was to to take a single parent, Sergei, his two-year-old son, Mark, and his sister, Olga, to Prague in the Czech Republic. Sadly, Sergei's wife (Mark's mum) had died.

It meant another mammoth trip for Paul as he drove for nine hours through the night. And one he couldn't have made without financial donations from members of the public to pay for fuel and food.

Once there, he summed up his caring nature. Among the items donated in the UK was a teddy bear. Paul handed it to little Mark to keep and named it Anna after "the Polish lady who started all this in High Wycombe".

Such tear-jerking gestures underline how happy Paul is to give his time to help others, said Angeline.

"He feels he is doing what needs to be done," she added. "Wherever he needs to go, he will go.

"However, everyone's kindness and generosity have been overwhelming, not just with their financial donations but also with their love and messages.

"Thanks to everyone who has sent a contribution or well wishes."

If you would like to make a financial donation to Paul's humanitarian mission to help Ukrainian refugees, you can do so via PayPal to [email protected]. The receipt you get back will say Virtual Computer Games, the name of Paul's former business. Any money left over will go to the refugees.

You can also follow his journey via updates posted on Angeline's Facebook page.