Trouble

As I work solo on the car, I'm supposed to get to calls first. I try to help the crews locate where the call is quicker by leaving on a flashing light on the car once I have found the location. However, as I work nights, I prefer not to wake up the whole street by leaving on the bright flashing blue/red LEDs, so I use a small orange flashing light on the roof of the car. It's sort of become my trademark around the area. Crews that turn up and see the yellow car with the orange beacon now know it's me. And probably start worrying.

Christine and Ricky who were on duty last night on the ambulance threatened to put in a priority call to the hospital as soon as they see it's my car on scene. They'd tell control that it's "Ben on scene, it's bound to be poorly", with a "details to follow" message... Am I really that much trouble???

Back to the point.

I'd arrived on scene to a patient fitting, who by the time I arrived wasn't. R&C weren't far behind. We loaded the patient into the ambulance as he'd apparently fitted several times, which was unusual for him. As they're checking his basic obs, we hear a knock on the door of the ambulance. Assuming that it was the patient's relative, we open the door and are somewhat surprised to see two police cars and three police officers outside.

We hadn't called for them.

The patient and his family hadn't called for them.

So why had they stopped?

"Well, we saw the orange beacon, and presumed that it means that you must be in distress!"

Clearly my reputation for trouble has moved on from just the Ambulance Service...