30 recruits pledge to help threatened SOS Bus in Colchester (From Gazette)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting GAZETTE NEWS to 80360, or email
30 recruits pledge to help threatened SOS Bus in Colchester
4:20pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in News By James Calnan
MORE than 30 people have stepped forward as volunteers on Colchester’s under-threat SOS Bus since it featured in a controversial TV programme.
Party Paramedics, screened last month on Channel 4, labelled Colchester one of “Britain’s hardest drinking towns” and featured scenes of revellers who had drunk too much or had got into fights.
While the show was criticised for painting a misleading picture of the town’s nightlife, the SOS Bus was widely praised for the help it offered to some of the revellers.
Since the show aired on January 23, more than 30 people have contacted Open Road, which manages the bus, to become volunteers on the rota. Co-ordinator Wayne Powell said some had already started training and were nearly ready to start helping people on Friday and Saturday nights.
He said: “We had a huge amount of people e-mailing in, saying they wanted to volunteer, which is fantastic.
“That was a really positive outcome from the show.
“This will boost our numbers that we have helping at night.”
A campaign has been launched to save the High Street bus, which in the past three years has helped more than 3,500 revellers who needed first aid and support.
The campaign is around half-way towards its target of raising £80,000 by the end of next month to remain operating, helped by a £29,000 award from Colchester’s Community Safety Partnership.
It has now been agreed that from April, primary care trust NHS North East Essex, will provide first aid services from Norvic Medical.
The group can provide more first aid, such as suture stitches on the bus, avoiding the need for more people to go to Colchester General Hospital’s A&E department.
As a result, Open Road will no longer pay around £10,000 a year to use the services of the St John Ambulance.
Comments(11)
The Yellow Peril
says...
5:06pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Walt Jabsco
says...
5:21pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Sdapeze wrote:You're slightly missing the point here. People are always going to get drunk in town and quite frankly without the do-gooders, either the Ambulance Service or the Police are going to have to literally pick them up and either sober them up enough for them to get their own way home or take them to A&E. If the bus wasn't there then a helpful member of the public who sees someone passed out on the floor in their own vomit is naturally going to call the emergency services. When called, the emergency services have a duty of care and so have to help the person and cannot turn their backs just because they are drunk.
What we need is to get drunks off the street. We certainly do not need a bunch of do-gooders mopping the brows of this low-life. That will just encourage them and continue to deter decent folk from going into town.
The volunteers are not there to pamper drunks, just keep them out of A&E and keep the emergency services responding to proper emergencies....if you live in Colchester and the SOS bus goes then expect a longer wait should you ever call 999.
jut1972
says...
5:22pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Sdapeze wrote:Harsh Sdapeze.
What we need is to get drunks off the street. We certainly do not need a bunch of do-gooders mopping the brows of this low-life. That will just encourage them and continue to deter decent folk from going into town.
People will always get themselves into bother through drink and this stops them clogging up A&E. The police would step in if needs be regardless of whether someone was on the bus or not surely.
Re: funding the service, anyone using it should make a donation, simple as.
paddy16
says...
11:15pm Thu 9 Feb 12
I would rather treat and help the people that require our services any day of the week and go home knowing i have along with all the crew helped . it's not do-gooding its called helping.
I feel that you have more in common with Victor Meldrew than most ,
90% of the comments are of a positive nature therefore we are doing something right ,
Rant over
regards a do-gooder :)
Boris
says...
1:21am Fri 10 Feb 12
As a decent person, I confirm that I have never had the slightest problem walking through Colchester town centre at any time of the day or night.
Respect to the SOS Bus volunteers, they do a great job, especially on nights when there is a full moon.
angryman!!!
says...
8:49am Fri 10 Feb 12
RobWalker
says...
10:10am Fri 10 Feb 12
It doesn't encourage behaviour; I don't for a second think people go out and behave any differently because the SOS bus is there or not.
If the world were full of good people wanting to give up their own time to help others then we would live in a much better place. I think it displays the best about what a sense of community means.
Sdapeze
says...
6:25pm Fri 10 Feb 12
Boris
says...
1:01am Sat 11 Feb 12
Sdapeze wrote:How much extra do you want to pay on your council tax to pay for the sort of heavy policing and extra prison cells that you are talking about?
What we need is decent policing where they grab the drunk, put them in the van and take them to the cells to sleep it off. All this namby pamby stuff just encourages bad behaviour. I bet you all disagree with smacking kids too. Heaven preserve us from you do-gooders. Fear of punishment is a great remedy for bad behaviour.
If you had bothered to see that C4 programme about the SOS bus you would have seen some good people who would put you to shame. Repent, and watch it. You have 11 days left.
http://www.channel4.
com/programmes/party
-paramedics/4od#3282
157
Say It As It Is OK?
says...
11:10am Sat 11 Feb 12
I don't believe it should have any funding from the council, who spend our council taxes on this service. Ask most people (the minority who actually pay council tax) if they approve of this expenditure and I would think the vast majority would say NO.
If the bus stays then levy all the town centre clubs and pubs so these licensed premises pick up the 'total' cost of running this service. It is after all many of these pubs and clubs who encourage the so called "binge drinking" we see today. They are happy to take the money and then use their own bouncers to throw the drunks out onto the street for someone else to deal with.
And, although I rarely agree with Sdapeze he has a point about making the drunks pay for their unacceptable behaviour. A night in the cells should be followed up with a court appearance and a really hefty fine, then perhaps a banning order banning them from the town centre between 9pm and 4.00am for three/six months. If it was made harder for the binge drinker then I'm sure the majority would think twice about their own behaviour in future.
Sdapeze says...
4:53pm Thu 9 Feb 12