![\"Hussain\"](\"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Hussain.jpg\")
Delivery drivers in the UK capital are living \u201cin terror\u201d of acid attacks as criminals are increasingly using corrosive substances to steal motorbikes, workers claim.\n\u201cThe acid attacks have caused such terror in our minds,\u201d said Abu Sumon, a delivery driver who works with Uber Eats and originally hails from Bangladesh. \u201cThis is our biggest concern nowadays.\u201d
\nFellow drivers have been targeted by attackers in recent months, including Jabed Hussain. Hussain was finishing his shift as an Uber Eats driver last summer when a teenager sprayed acid on him.
\nHis face began to burn almost immediately. \u201cI can\u2019t explain to you how it felt,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI was crying like a baby.\u201d
\nWhile many of his physical injuries have healed \u2014 he was shielded largely by his helmet \u2014 the psychological scars of the attack remain. \u201cI don\u2019t trust any-one at the moment,\u201d he said.
\nLocking his doors and peering over his shoulder, Hussain said he lives in near-constant fear. Sadly, Hussain\u2019s story is not unique. Acid attacks have increased across the UK, with more than 400 incidents occurring last year in London alone.
\nCriminal activity is behind the rise in attacks, according to experts, with acid increasingly used as a weapon in gang violence and attempted muggings. Delivery drivers, who ride alone in unfamiliar areas, often working long into the night, have been targeted.
\nMD Nawshad Kamal was the victim of an acid attack while delivering a meal for the Turkish restaurant he worked for. After being approached by two young men who demanded the keys to his moped, Kamal said he remembers seeing one of them pull out a plastic bottle.
\n\u201cThe next thing I realized was that my eyes were burning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like I was on fire.\u201d
\nKamal suffered serious burns to his eyes and was kept unconscious by doctors for six days while he underwent treatment.
\nThe attack shocked fellow delivery drivers, he said. \u201cSome of my friends, when they heard about me, because they do the same job, they said they were going to sell their bikes,\u201d he told Arab News. \u201cEveryone is scared.\u201d
\nAccording to Sumon, attacks such as those against Hussain and Kamal have forced drivers to take extreme precautions in their daily routines: When delivering
\nto high-crime areas, they now share their location with one another via WhatsApp in case they are attacked. Other areas have been declared unofficial \u201cno-go\u201d zones, he said. He and fellow drivers regularly refuse to take jobs in parts of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham after dark as muggings, including acid attacks, are on the increase, he said.
\nUber Eats did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue. Sumon said the authorities had failed to take the concerns of delivery drivers seriously.
\n\u201cBecause we are working-class and the majority of delivery drivers are from immigrant backgrounds … I feel that probably there is a negligence from law enforcement and on the government sides,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t tend to care about us.\u201d
\nHussain, who is originally from Bangladesh, said the UK government should do more. \u201cIn Bangladesh, I was never a victim of an acid attack. But it was here, in one of the most civilized countries, in this multicultural city.\u201d<\/p>\n