Who should I email regarding some interesting emergency services driving?

[visa_bot]

One of my old liveries was a paramedic but her job was to investigate complaints against ambulance driving. So they do take things like this seriously and will do a proper investigation etc. If you search online, it depends on which NHS trust but it should be easy to report.
I'm assuming Hermosa is a Spanish horse? My Spanish stallion is amazing too, we had 3 chinook helicopters go right over our heads in formation once, and all he did was throw his head up in the air. I hugged him and cried once they had gone over, it was so scary, if I was on my other horse I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have still been in the saddle.

 

[SEL]

I'd do police and cc ambulance service. He may have been one of their responder units.

I have seen one of those swing fast into a small carpark when the air ambulance was on its way. It was politely pointed out to him at the time one casualty was enough.

 

[Caol Ila]

Both the ambulance services and police have complaint forms online but no email that I can find. I've just done the ambulance service one.

I'm working on the BHS incident form at the moment, but it doesn't give you enough words to describe what happened. Weird!

And yes, @visa_bot, she is PRE!

 

[Caol Ila]

I messaged everyone. The ambulance service emailed back, asking if I knew the car's reg number. I did not. In hindsight, getting that would have been smart but we were too busy thinking WTF. I wrote that we were trying to calm our horses down and therefore did not get the plates, but added that it seems to be a wider training issue, given that another rider from our yard, who had been about five minutes ahead of us, had a similar incident with a different vehicle, responding to the same call.

That sounded like a scarier near miss. She'd been out by herself, and the car came hurting towards her with its sirens on. It did not turn them off. She said the horse panicked and ended up in the middle of the road, rearing. The car had to swerve around her, and she was amazed it didn't hit them and that the horse didn't fall. I have forwarded her the form and encouraged her to write a complaint as well.

 

[SEL]

I messaged everyone. The ambulance service emailed back, asking if I knew the car's reg number. I did not. In hindsight, getting that would have been smart but we were too busy thinking WTF. I wrote that we were trying to calm our horses down and therefore did not get the plates, but added that it seems to be a wider training issue, given that another rider from our yard, who had been about five minutes ahead of us, had a similar incident with a different vehicle, responding to the same call.

That sounded like a scarier near miss. She'd been out by herself, and the car came hurting towards her with its sirens on. It did not turn them off. She said the horse panicked and ended up in the middle of the road, rearing. The car had to swerve around her, and she was amazed it didn't hit them and that the horse didn't fall. I have forwarded her the form and encouraged her to write a complaint as well.

Terrifying

If it was any corporation I'd worked for they'd have had all the drivers from that incident in and spoken to. Sounds like they will do something even if they haven't got the plates.

 

[ycbm]

I messaged everyone. The ambulance service emailed back, asking if I knew the car's reg number. I did not. In hindsight, getting that would have been smart but we were too busy thinking WTF. I wrote that we were trying to calm our horses down and therefore did not get the plates, but added that it seems to be a wider training issue, given that another rider from our yard, who had been about five minutes ahead of us, had a similar incident with a different vehicle, responding to the same call.

That sounded like a scarier near miss. She'd been out by herself, and the car came hurtling towards her with its sirens on. It did not turn them off. She said the horse panicked and ended up in the middle of the road, rearing. The car had to swerve around her, and she was amazed it didn't hit them and that the horse didn't fall. I have forwarded her the form and encouraged her to write a complaint as well.

That's why we should all complain about single incidents like these. We never know when other riders have had a similar experience which indicates a systemic problem that needs sorting before someone dies. Unless we each report each one, neither do the authorities who can fix it.

 

[Annagain]

My OH is a police driving instructor. The annoying thing about that is he tries to train me whenever I'm driving. Because of that I know that what you're describing falls well below the standards demanded by the training that driver will have had. He ALWAYS spots horses before I do - even though (as I'm sure we all are) I'm predisposed to spotting horses and always spot them from the passenger seat before other drivers I'm with do. He's always telling me I should be able to stop in the distance I can see to be clear on a normal road and in half that distance on a single track road. He's always teaching me to 'drive ahead' so looking for hazards further into the distance than most drivers. I kind of already did this thanks to towing the trailer but he has got me doing it even more so I know that any emergency service driver would also be doing this. "Not seeing" two horses in hi-viz on a straight road would be considered every bit as band as seeing them and making no effort to slow down.

The fact he knew there were others coming behind him also suggests this was a training exercise. Had it been a real incident, he wouldn't necessarily have known others were also attending and even if he knew there was a multi-vehicle response, they wouldn't all be coming from the same direction.

I'd contact the police in the first instance.

 

[TheOldTrout]

Hermosa is a superstar! Nothing useful to add...

 

[Caol Ila]

They've messaged me this morning to say that they are "arranging to have the issues I raised investigated further." That sounds as though they are taking it seriously.

There's only one main road into the park (basically...unless you come up some steep hairpins but that road isn't as connected to a major city), so if responders are coming from Stirling or Glasgow, they will end up on it. My money is still on some incident at the quarry.

My friend was much more empathetic towards the driver and believed, "I didn't see you" and said, "Well, he apologised." I said that not only could I see him well enough to identify him as a medic car some ways off, I had time to think, "Is he turning his sirens off? Oh f*ck. What are our escape routes? Can we make the layby? Can we get back to the t-junction? No fecking chance. He's too fast. Well, sh1t, I'd better start waving frantically at him." In the time it took me to go through all of that, he had more than enough time to see us, slow down, and turn off his damn sirens.

I really hope the lassie on the horse who was rearing contacts them as well.

 

[SEL]

They've messaged me this morning to say that they are "arranging to have the issues I raised investigated further." That sounds as though they are taking it seriously.

There's only one main road into the park (basically...unless you come up some steep hairpins but that road isn't as connected to a major city), so if responders are coming from Stirling or Glasgow, they will end up on it. My money is still on some incident at the quarry.

My friend was much more empathetic towards the driver and believed, "I didn't see you" and said, "Well, he apologised." I said that not only could I see him well enough to identify him as a medic car some ways off, I had time to think, "Is he turning his sirens off? Oh f*ck. What are our escape routes? Can we make the layby? Can we get back to the t-junction? No fecking chance. He's too fast. Well, sh1t, I'd better start waving frantically at him." In the time it took me to go through all of that, he had more than enough time to see us, slow down, and turn off his damn sirens.

I really hope the lassie on the horse who was rearing contacts them as well.

Some people don't like conflict so veer away from making a fuss.

That responder could have caused a devastating accident.

 

[Arzada]

They've messaged me this morning to say that they are "arranging to have the issues I raised investigated further." That sounds as though they are taking it seriously.

Great news. Well done for reporting. It's also in their interests to thoroughly investigate. If things had gone wrong, as they could so easily have done, then they would have had a road closed and whole load of emergency staff and vehicles tied up at an incident caused solely by their driver.

 

[Glitter's fun]

are the individual services responsible for training drivers?

Yes.

I'm retired now but I was a remote area first responder & fire brigade volunteer for many years. The training is with/identical to the regular fire fighters of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. Our emergency response driver training was done by SFR & not in conjunction with other emergency services.

The first thing they tell you, before you are even behind the wheel is "Don't turn yourself into another casualty that also needs to be dealt with. Your first priority is to actually arrive. People are relying on you & you can't help them if you are a mile away wrapped round a lamppost". I don't remember anything specific about horses but there was a huge emphasis on safety.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Many years ago I was a 'first response driver' & was highly trainer pursuit driver etc. For the idiot driving the car at 60/70 mph at you & later saying he didn't see you is absolute BS. Make a complaint & hopefully he'll be spoken to & that will make him aware of his responsibilities to other road users..

 

[Caol Ila]

They phoned me and I spoke to a lady in charge of something or other in the ambulance service.

The powers-that-be spoke to the driver, who still says he didn't see us. Yeah, okay. But apparently, the sirens on the vehicle are connected to the horn, so the horn blaring at us was caused by him turning off his sirens (someone on this thread said that could be an issue for some vehicles). Seems like a really stupid design!

However, she said they will send out messages to all drivers reiterating the protocols for passing horses and the need to be extra alert for their presence on rural roads around Glasgow. I said we are at a 90 horse equestrian centre, so horses should be expected on Mugdock Road, and she said she would make a point that drivers should be very careful if responding to incidents near large yards.

 

[Gloi]

They phoned me and I spoke to a lady in charge of something or other in the ambulance service.

The powers-that-be spoke to the driver, who still says he didn't see us. Yeah, okay. But apparently, the sirens on the vehicle are connected to the horn, so the horn blaring at us was caused by him turning off his sirens (someone on this thread said that could be an issue for some vehicles). Seems like a really stupid design!

However, she said they will send out messages to all drivers reiterating the protocols for passing horses and the need to be extra alert for their presence on rural roads around Glasgow. I said we are at a 90 horse equestrian centre, so horses should be expected on Mugdock Road, and she said she would make a point that drivers should be very careful if responding to incidents near large yards.

If he didn't see you what is his excuse for that. Eye test or lack of due care and attention.

 

[Caol Ila]

If he didn't see you what is his excuse for that. Eye test or lack of due care and attention.

Fair. I didn't ask that directly, but my comment to the effect of 'you should expect to see horses on that road so drivers need to be looking out for them' was kind of aiming at that.

 

[blitznbobs]

If it was a doctors car its neither the ambulance service or the police - its the out of hours gp service