To the man on the 207 bus: Thank you.

“Thank you for saying something when that man grabbed me. Thank you for insisting that it was not acceptable.”

Kaitlyn Regehr was on the 207 bus towards Acton, London at around 10:30pm on Tuesday night. The Toronto-born PhD student was travelling home through West London, when she was groped by another passenger. Metro UK reports that rather than risking further assault by confronting the man, Regehr felt it was safer to remove herself from the situation.

But there was another man on the 207 bus that night, a “tall, dark and dapper” man with a beard. This stranger witnessed the assault and was not willing to let what happened go un-acknowledged. He stood up for Regehr, and evidently gave the man who had assaulted her a stern talking to.

Now Regehr wants to find the mystery gentleman, to thank him for supporting her, and standing up against assault.

She posted this on her Facebook page:

“Thank you for saying something when that man grabbed me. Thank you for insisting that it was not acceptable,” posted Regehr. “Most of all, thank you for asking him about the women in his life, his mother, his sister… You said, ‘She could be your sister. She is someone’s sister’, and in doing so you made me a person. You made us a community.”

As Regehr rightly states, London is a big city. And as is the case in all big cities, it can be easy to ignore the things that make you uncomfortable. Pretend you didn’t see them. Walk away. Hop off the bus. But the mystery man on the 207 bus did not. “You humanised assault. You didn’t turn away. You took a stand,” says Regehr. “You said something.”

The post now has almost 160 thousand likes, and has been shared over 85 thousand times. Facebook users around the world are congratulating the man on his actions, and thanking him for standing up for Regehr.

“Glad to know there on GOOD people in this world and that you are safe kait,” writes one commenter. Another posting “If more people realised we are all One…every act of kindness, or hatred, we do to ourselves. What a great guy. So very glad he was there and you’re ok xxx”

Regehr is still in search of Mr 207, and we hope she tracks him down.

“Please, let’s all endeavour to ‘say something’, please share, and please help me find this awesome dude so I can buy him a pint!”

Frankly, we’d like to buy him one too.