A TAXI firm is offering half-price rides to NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

R & L Taxis, of Selkirk, has introduced the deal for health workers travelling to and from their jobs.

Owner Bruce Mercer, an ex-soldier, said: “For as long as the coronavirus is around, we’re going to fight it to the end with them.”

Mr Mercer’s announcement comes in the same week that Borders Buses revealed it is allowing free journeys to health staff, too.

Mr Mercer, 31, told us his drivers are giving lifts to members of the medical profession three or four times each day.

On Monday (March 30), he said: “We were out at 6am this morning taking a woman to the BGH [Borders General Hospital] and then we’ll be picking her up after her 13-hour shift.”

The response from NHS workers has been “absolutely fantastic”, said Mr Mercer, a father of three.

“Some of the doctors are refusing to accept the 50 per cent reduction because we’re just as good as them - on the front line.

“They’re paying the full fare - plus paying the tip to the driver.”

Mr Mercer, of Selkirk, set up his firm around 15 months ago, following his time in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

Fellow veterans enjoy free lifts in his cabs, with the company’s motto being: ‘We beat isolation for veterans - one mile at a time’.

Now, however, the discounted treatment has been applied to NHS staff to mark Mr Mercer’s respect for their important duties.

Mr Mercer said: “These doctors and nurses are working flat out. With being a soldier, we know how it is being on the front line and just doing what I’m doing just now, it helps me as a person because I feel like a soldier again, if that makes sense - it gives you purpose.”

In light of the virus outbreak, the firm’s vehicles have been fitted with plastic partitions, said Mr Mercer, so the risk of infection transmission is reduced.

Other methods being employed are the wearing of gloves and facemasks, Mr Mercer said, as well as the offer of contactless card payments. Hand sanitiser is being used, too.

Mr Mercer said he has helped other taxi firms in Galashiels fit their own partitions after news of his spread.

Mr Mercer’s seven-year military career saw him spend time in Northern Ireland, Belize and Iraq, he said.