Jacob Brentnall drove to Manchester from his home in Nottingham after midnight when he read about the bombing in the news and on social media.
After giving a young woman a lift across the city he drove a family of three to Leeds, before returning home.
The 21-year-old then turned up for work in Derby despite getting no sleep.
Mr Brentnall said the attack made him feel "sick to my stomach" but it had been heartening to see people pulling together.
"I saw lots of other people tweeting to ask if people needed a place to sleep or anything like that, or if people needed lifts," said Mr Brentnall, who works as an engineer.
"I was under the assumption people would need help and I was in a position to be able to help, I guess it was as simple as that.
"Although something this traumatic has happened, everyone has been capable of pulling together and doing what needs to be done."
He said the family he took to Leeds were visibly "shook up".
"The father said they were out of the immediate area but it was still quite traumatic for them," said Mr Brentnall.
"The mother and daughter were asleep within a couple of minutes and the dad was pale all the way back. He was still in shock.
"They were very grateful and couldn't say thank you enough."
Mr Brentnall also praised the work of the emergency services.
"They were on it straight away," he said.
"Everyone was running away from it but they were running to it. I've got to take my hat off to them."
A man has described how he felt compelled to drive 200 miles in the middle of the night to help people affected by the Manchester attack.