A man has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for sexually assaulting a paramedic in Blackpool on the same day a campaign to stop attacks on ambulance staff was launched.
Stuart Stokes, 22, was sentenced to a two-year Community Order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years at Preston Crown Court yesterday, after the incident on October 19 last year.
A paramedic was called to attend to Stokes who had an injured foot, on Bank Hey Street in the town centre.
Stokes, who lived in Bute Avenue, Blackpool, at the time but has since moved to Plymouth, was placed on a treatment bed in an ambulance but became angry when an attempt to take his blood pressure was made.
That was when he put his hand between the female paramedic’s legs, moving to the top of her leg and then also touching her left breast.
The victim, who cannot be named, said: “It is difficult to go over what happened to me but ambulance staff do not expect to receive any sort of abuse when we are just trying to do our job.
“Since the assault happened, it has affected the way I do my job and how I react in that sort of situation, I am a lot less trusting now, but it certainly hasn’t affected the quality of care I give.
“I know of colleagues who have suffered similar incidents to this in the past, so it is not an isolated case, and we are grateful for all the help we can get in stopping the abuse ambulance staff receive.”
The Stop Abuse campaign is calling for an end to violence, aggression and verbal attacks on ambulance staff and is supported by police and the local pubwatch scheme.
Between May 2007 and April 2008 there were 234 reported assaults on North West Ambulance Service employees, of which 67 were reported to the police, with 41 sanctions being applied to attackers.
One victim of verbal abuse and aggression is Ian Jones, 55, an ambulance technician on the Fylde coast for 33 years.
He attended a call to a man lying in another person’s garden in Layton in August.
He said: “The man’s friends said he had been drinking for two days and he was clearly intoxicated.
“When we arrived he started verbally abusing me, calling me names and trying to kick out when we were treating him.
“He only caught me on the shins a few time, but his behaviour meant a five-minute job turned into a 40-minute job to get him to casualty.
“That delayed us to the next emergency call we had to deal with, which was a man who had had a heart attack, the behaviour of the abusive man could have cost someone their life.”
Mr Jones, 55, said they dealt with incidents when someone was verbally abusive or aggressive virtually every weekend in central Blackpool.
Fiona Buckley, head of risk and safety at the North West Ambulance Service, said: “This campaign will show that we will not tolerate the abuse of our staff.
“These attacks can have devastating long-term effects for the victims, affecting their confidence at work, their social lives and relationships with family and friends.”
All pubs belonging to the Pubwatch schemes across the Fylde coast have signed up to support the scheme, which could see banning orders imposed on individuals who abuse ambulance staff.
Dave Daly, president of the National Licensed House Managers Association, who runs The Castle in Central Drive, said: “Of the near 240 assaults in the past year, most of them will have involved excessive alcohol or drugs, so if we can help by banning these offenders from our premises then we are delighted to support this campaign.”
The Citizen: http://www.blackpoolcitizen.co.uk/news/3863278.Blackpool_ambulance_staff_call_999_over_abuse/
