Ambulance knife attack points up dangers to emergency workers

An ambulance man has described how he was chased and attacked with a carving knife while on a call-out.

Carl Jones, 35, from Bargoed in Caerphilly county says he has had four months off work this year because of two assaults while doing his job. He spoke as a Welsh MP's bill giving greater protection to emergency workers gets closer to becoming law. The Welsh Ambulance Service said it already did everything possible to limit risks.

The Emergency Workers Obstruction Bill is due to receive its final reading in the House of Commons on Thursday, after being introduced by Swansea West MP Alan Williams. It would create a new law making it an offence to hinder emergency workers, and allowing fines of up to £5,000.

The legislation comes amid growing concern about the safety of emergency staff such as Mr Jones, an ambulance technician. He had been called out to a house in Ely, Cardiff, in the early hours when the attack happened. He and his paramedic colleague had been warned about a man, who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and harming himself.

When they arrived at the house, Mr Jones said they tried to calm him down: "But he went into the kitchen and I could hear him rummaging in a cutlery drawer," Mr Jones explained. "He came out with a carving knife and made it clear he was coming for us."

Mr Jones and his colleague backed out of the house. "He just kept coming after me with the knife so I ran behind a parked flatbed truck and he chased me round it," he said. They managed to get the man, who was "bleeding everywhere," into the ambulance, before the police arrived and disarmed him.

"They took him in but he bit a female police sergeant and a nurse in casualty and he kicked the custody officer in the head, said Mr Jones. "This is what we are up against."

Christine Bigmore, a 52-year-old paramedic from Cardiff, also described how she was punched in the chest when she tried to stop a man stealing an ambulance from the station: "We've had plenty of violent attacks on staff and we tend not to even bother reporting the verbal abuse and foul language," she said. "You're a captive audience and a captive punch bag."

Regional ambulance officer George Murphy said aggressive or violent behaviour towards emergency workers was "totally unacceptable": "We do everything we can to ensure we limit the risk our staff face in doing their jobs," he said.

Whatever the circumstances, practical accident support, compensation claim assistance and legal advice is available free of charge from our expert First Response team on freephone 0800 037 1066.

Free legal advice direct to your inbox: Ask Law Answers your compensation claim legal question.