Weekend Of Abuse For West Midlands Ambulance

11 June 2019, 07:08 | Updated: 11 June 2019, 07:15

West Midlands Ambulance service has described the weekend as one of "utter disappointment" after five staff were assaulted.

In separate cases on Saturday and Sunday, five ambulance staff were assaulted by the patients they were sent to help in Birmingham, Telford and Redditch. No one was seriously injured. 

Operations Manager, Mike Duggan, posted about his outrage on Twitter after his colleague was assaulted saying:

“A poor start to our #CCTU shift with a member of staff assaulted  big thanks to @firearmsWMP & @BrumCityWMP for their assistance. Luckily the member of staff is not badly injured. This is UNACCEPTABLE and we do not tolerate it. #protecttheprotectors.”

On Sunday night, two ambulances were vandalised on separate 999 calls in Birmingham. The first took place on Este Road in Yardley between 7.15pm and 8.10pm whilst the ambulance crew were inside a property treating a patient. The crew returned to their ambulance to find that an egg had been thrown at their nearside wing mirror which required jet washing back at the ambulance hub to remove the sticky substance.

Later the same night on Reservoir Road in Erdington, a crew were responded to a 999 call at around 11.30pm. When they returned to their vehicle at 1.30am, once they had treated the patient, they discovered that their windscreen had been smashed making the vehicle unsafe to be used for the rest of the shift. The vehicle is now off the road awaiting repair.

Craig Cooke, the Trust’s Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer, said: “I simply do not know what goes through the minds of these horrible individuals. Not only have I had five staff assaulted whilst trying to do their job, two ambulances have had to be taken off the road meaning two less vehicles were available to respond to 999 calls.

“Thankfully, our on-board CCTV has captured some excellent footage which will be passed onto our police colleagues to assist with identifying and charging the culprits. I can only hope that the offenders are then handed generous sentences by the judicial system for their abhorrent crimes against a 999 service here to help people in their hour of need.”