You might not know his name, but if you’ve ever had a late night out in the city you probably recognise George Pavy’s face.

Mr Pavy has been working with CADA’s free transport programme ‘Let Us Drive’ since it began in 2007. Over the years he has helped more than 10,000 patrons get home safely by ushering them into taxis in the wee hours of the morning.

He usually tries to stay away from the spotlight, but spoke to The Royal Gazette in light of the upcoming holiday season.

Around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Mr Pavy said there are always a lot more people out celebrating — some years they utilise the transportation service in big waves, while other years it’s a small trickle.

He encouraged people to plan in advance how they will get home this holiday season.

“By all means have a good time, but I encourage people to think ahead before going out so they get home safe,” he said. “They can find someone who is willing to be the designated driver or assign someone ahead of time to make sure everyone gets home.

“It just takes a little bit of preplanning or can be as simple as just making sure you have enough cab fare.”

Mr Pavy said it was rewarding to know he has played a part in helping partygoers stay out of harm’s way.

When first starting out, most people didn’t know about the late night transport programme.

CADA managed to get the word out through a advertising campaign and now, after helping out for such a long time, people recognise Mr Pavy and thank him in the streets. “Sometimes I don’t recognise them, but they remember me and that means a lot,” he said.

Mr Pavy, a technician by trade, has never been a drinker himself. But just from talking to his supervisor and reading the news, he understands there’s a clear correlation between alcohol and some road deaths on the Island.

In fact a new study conducted by The Department of Health recently found that more than half of motorists killed on Bermuda’s roads in recent years had been drinking alcohol before they died.

In that time period there were 30 road traffic fatalities; blood samples taken from victims showed that 17 of them had alcohol in their systems.

Like any job, the role isn’t without its challenges. Mr Pavy said working the 3.15am until 3.45am shift in the early hours of Saturday morning can sometimes get “interesting”.

“Dealing with people who are boisterous can be hard sometimes. They may have been out clubbing or to dinner and then clubbing, and some, but not all, have been drinking.

“Alcohol causes people to lose their inhibitions so some will get excitable and boisterous. I have to explain to them there is a system for how things work and sometimes try to calm them down and ask them to be patient.”

Mr Pavy’s job is to figure out where they are going and get up to six people in a taxi heading towards either the east or west end.

“For people who are new to Bermuda I have to ask them to give me clues about where they are staying because they don’t know. I eventually figure it out.

“In the summer time there are a lot of visitors, while the winter it’s mostly locals [using the service],” he said.

Mr Pavy was recently handed the Unsung Hero Award from Caron Bermuda for “unselfishly giving of himself to help others”.

CADA’s Let Us Drive programme, sponsored by Bacardi Limited, Gosling’s, Burrows Lightbourne and City of Hamilton, is available from Reid Street outside the LOM Building on Saturday morning from 3.15am until 3.45am.