Leeds students thank NHS workers by paying for takeaway in the middle of the night

Holly Staveley is a healthcare assistant who works throughout the night offering palliative care for those in the community who need help.

When the nurses based at her Killingbeck office called her and suggested they all enjoyed a one-off middle-of-the-night takeaway on their break, Holly was quick to agree.

So, at 1.30am on Sunday, she and colleague Tam went to Flames in Woodhouse to collect their treat.

Holly said: “We went into the takeaway and as we were about to pay, two lads walked in and they were really over excited about seeing us.

“They said ‘wow you’re from the NHS, you’re not paying for your order, we are’.

“The cashier told them our order was £52 and we assumed they’d retract their offer but they told us they’d go halves and buy our food.

“‘We’re so thankful for what you do’ they told us and we were honestly wowed, they couldn’t have thanked us enough.”

When the students left the takeaway to withdraw cash for their payment, a passing local joked with Holly and Sam that the students wouldn’t come back and that they should probably just pay for their meal themselves.

Holly added: “We were about to pay for our meal ourselves, but no, they came back and they told us they didn’t care how much the order was but they wanted to pay to thank us.

“I realised after that because I was so focused on how kind they had been, I didn’t get their names and I wanted to properly do something to say thank you.”

Holly made a plea to Facebook users to help her find the students and in the end found them as University of Leeds go-ers originally from Hemel Hempstead.

Holly added: “When I spoke to them again on Facebook they told me they don’t need a thank you and don’t want a thank you but they merely wanted to thank us for what we have done.

“It was so ‘wow’ and so kind.”