The motorist who featured in a viral video of him driving backwards along North Shore Road has defended his actions, saying he was being a Good Samaritan.

Leonard Wilson, 54, contacted The Royal Gazette after the Bermuda Road Safety Council condemned the 74-second clip, and a Bermuda Police Service spokesman called on the public to share information about the driver. The video was filmed on a rainy day from a vehicle trailing a small blue car as it reverses at speed along the road in the Shelly Bay area, before turning into a lane by the Esso gas station.

Since being posted to the Bermuda Memes Facebook page on Thursday, it has racked up 21,000 views and 370 “likes” — with opinion divided as to whether the reverse driving was funny, impressive or reckless.

BRSC chairwoman Erica Rance Mill said of the clip: “The actions of the driver clearly are in contravention of the rules of the road, namely the Road Traffic Act.”

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines said: “The Bermuda Police Service is reviewing the footage to determine whether or not any offences have been committed.”

However, Mr Wilson said he had been helping an elderly lady who had broken down in the middle of the road.

“Her car wouldn’t move because it needed transmission fluid, so I assisted her,” he said. “I had to drive the car backwards so that the fluid could go back into the reservoir.

“She didn’t have any money and she would have had to get a tow truck just to take her car to the gas station. It didn’t make sense.”

The mechanic, from Shelly Bay, added that his passenger took the wheel and transported the elderly lady to the Esso station in his car, as Mr Wilson drove her car backwards for 15 minutes to the same spot.

“I then bought the transmission fluid for her,” he said. “She couldn’t stop thanking me.

“I told her I didn’t want any money from her, I was just doing a good deed to help somebody.

“It could have been anybody’s mother or grandmother stuck in the middle of the road needing help.”

Mr Wilson, a father of six and grandfather of three, added: “It wasn’t about showing off or proving a point.

“People have negative minds, and this is one of the biggest problems we have in Bermuda.”