It's always a little daunting to get a call on the motorway, as more often than not it's an RTA, and invariably it's quite nasty. So when I saw the call on the screen saying M1 motorway northbound, the adrenaline kicked in a little. Then I read the rest of it. No RTA, no carnage. Just a car at the side of the motorway, diabetic driver, feeling unwell. Nevertheless, off I sped to find said car in the hard shoulder.
Anyone in EOC (Emergency Operations Centre or Control in normalspeak) watching me on the map would have been having a good giggle... I started at the bottom end of the motorway, travelled all the way up to where the car was supposed to be, and further until I came off one junction further than I needed to. No car in any hard shoulder. So I turned around and had a look in the other direction. Still no car. Turned back up the motorway and called EOC to see if they could trace our elusive diabetic.
After a few minutes a somewhat confused sounding gentleman from EOC called me back. Apparently the call had come from a neighbouring Ambulance Service who'd got all the details a little confused. The "patient" didn't want an ambulance. He wanted the AA. His car had broken down. Not him. But he did tell the AA he was diabetic, so that they would get a move on and get him home. Someone, somewhere got very confused.
Mr AA Man turned up well before we did, with bar of chocolate in hand for Mr Diabetic. By the time I'd driven up and down the motorway, his car was being towed home, and he was making sure that his blood-sugar levels were still normal...
4th Emergency Service? I guess so after all!
1 comment:
I had a similar call " person looking unwell in car"..... on Staples Corner, in rush hour!! Couldn't have been more vague with details.
Turned out the person had broken down and was merely waiting for the AA. A Do gooder member of the public had driven past and thought they looked unwell and had called for an ambulance...
You just couldn't make it up if you tried!!!
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