In message , John Rowland
writes
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c8zpw5

What a bloody idiot.

That may indeed be the case.

However, I think we all know that - whenever we see a media report on a
subject we know something about - it usually contains several
inaccuracies or doesn't give the whole story. That might (and I stress
*might*) be the case here.

For the record:

(a) I've met plenty of councillors who have ranged from slightly
ill-informed to complete *******.

(b) I've met Colin R once, know nothing about him and emphatically
*not* making a judgement about him in point (a) above! :-)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

What a bloody idiot.

That may indeed be the case.

However, I think we all know that - whenever we see a media report on a
subject we know something about - it usually contains several
inaccuracies or doesn't give the whole story. That might (and I stress
*might*) be the case here.

That was certainly my first thought, but I completely and utterly fail to
comprehend any circumstances where blocking an ambulance service fast
response vehicle, then locking gates on them, because they "shouldn't be
driving on the grass" is even remotely acceptable.

On Feb 4, 8:21*pm, Adrian wrote:
Ian Jelf gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

What a bloody idiot.
That may indeed be the case.

However, I think we all know that - whenever we see a media report on a
subject we know something about - it usually contains several
inaccuracies or doesn't give the whole story. * That might (and I stress
*might*) be the case here.

That was certainly my first thought, but I completely and utterly fail to
comprehend any circumstances where blocking an ambulance service fast
response vehicle, then locking gates on them, because they "shouldn't be
driving on the grass" is even remotely acceptable.

The story doesn't do itself much credit. It repeatedly refers to the
car as an "ambulance", despite it being one of these
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/ambulance/dsc10899.jpg.

The URL is worse: it says "Councillor-blocked-ambulance-carrying-
injured-man-as-it-broke-driving-by-laws.html".

There's no indication in the story that the car was carrying an
injured person, nor that it would be allowed to. It does say that the
councillor claimed that the lights were not flashing.

So then the difficult thing to explain is how and why they didn't
manage to convey the fact that they were attending an "emergency",
although it seems to have been no more than a bit of first aid.
Several buckets of salt I think.

MIG gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

That was certainly my first thought, but I completely and utterly fail
to comprehend any circumstances where blocking an ambulance service
fast response vehicle, then locking gates on them, because they
"shouldn't be driving on the grass" is even remotely acceptable.

The story doesn't do itself much credit. It repeatedly refers to the
car as an "ambulance", despite it being one of these
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/ambulance/dsc10899.jpg.

Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a paramedic.
The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an incident
faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

On Feb 4, 9:05*pm, Adrian wrote:
MIG gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

That was certainly my first thought, but I completely and utterly fail
to comprehend any circumstances where blocking an ambulance service
fast response vehicle, then locking gates on them, because they
"shouldn't be driving on the grass" is even remotely acceptable.
The story doesn't do itself much credit. *It repeatedly refers to the
car as an "ambulance", despite it being one of these
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/ambulance/dsc10899.jpg.

Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a paramedic.
The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an incident
faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

Although probably not in the Yorkshire colours (may have been less
garish). In London I see a lot of paramedic motorbikes these days,
which makes a lot of sense.

MIG gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a
paramedic. The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an
incident faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

Although probably not in the Yorkshire colours (may have been less
garish).

Unlikely.
Green battenburg's fairly standard for ambulance service nationally.

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, Adrian wrote:

MIG gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a
paramedic. The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an
incident faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

Although probably not in the Yorkshire colours (may have been less
garish).

Unlikely. Green battenburg's fairly standard for ambulance service
nationally.

Paragraph 4.10 in the report Mr Smyth posted says:

The 4 x 4 vehicle was marked clearly as a paramedic vehicle in bold red
and green colouring

And also that it was a Honda CRV, like the one in MIG's picture.

Red and green sounds horrible.

tom

--
In other news, has anyone here read Blindness? Does it get better after
the 30 page mark, is does the whole thing read like a sentimental fairy
tale for particularly slow children? -- Abigail

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, MIG wrote:

On Feb 4, 9:05*pm, Adrian wrote:
MIG gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

That was certainly my first thought, but I completely and utterly fail
to comprehend any circumstances where blocking an ambulance service
fast response vehicle, then locking gates on them, because they
"shouldn't be driving on the grass" is even remotely acceptable.
The story doesn't do itself much credit. *It repeatedly refers to the
car as an "ambulance", despite it being one of these
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/ambulance/dsc10899.jpg.

Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a paramedic.
The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an incident
faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

Although probably not in the Yorkshire colours (may have been less
garish). In London I see a lot of paramedic motorbikes these days,
which makes a lot of sense.

There's also a bicycle paramedic, with huge panniers full of paramedicine
etc. He's been along with the Critical Mass rides on occasion (possibly
always, but i haven't always spotted him). I don't know what he does the
rest of the time.

Thinking about it, there was also a cycling paramedic in Oxford. I was
around when a guy fell out of a tree and donked his head on a concrete
wharf, and he showed up to treat him. It was he

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.7...=17&iwloc=addr

Where an ambulance couldn't have reached (due to bollards) and even a
motorbike would have had trouble.

Wasn't the best picnic i've been to.

tom

--
In other news, has anyone here read Blindness? Does it get better after
the 30 page mark, is does the whole thing read like a sentimental fairy
tale for particularly slow children? -- Abigail

In message , at 21:05:40 on Wed, 4
Feb 2009, Adrian remarked:
Yup, an ambulance service fast response vehicle, staffed by a paramedic.
The vehicle they send so as to get expert medical help to an incident
faster than a full-fat ambulance may be able to get there.

What I don't really understand is why they had to send an ambulance at
all. It was a busy annual city-centre carnival event. Why weren't there
ambulance staff (St Johns if not NHS) on site already?
--
Roland Perry

"Ian Jelf" wrote in message
news
In message , John Rowland
writes
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c8zpw5

What a bloody idiot.

That may indeed be the case.

However, I think we all know that - whenever we see a media report on
a subject we know something about - it usually contains several
inaccuracies or doesn't give the whole story. That might (and I
stress *might*) be the case here.

For the record:

(a) I've met plenty of councillors who have ranged from slightly
ill-informed to complete *******.

(b) I've met Colin R once, know nothing about him and emphatically
*not* making a judgement about him in point (a) above! :-)

Anyone who is interested can read the full report at
http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/public/c...11stds/3_0.pdf
(warning - 23MB pdf file)

Peter Smyth