Taxi Driver Online

Similar to the bandages thing, but it's a different scheme and seems to involve slightly more

These are the kind of people who think of everything, yet think of nothing

And he hasn't even suggested carrying a lifebelt


'Bleed kits should be available in taxis' as more installed across Bristol

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bris ... is-9284724

Bleed kits have already helped save lives in Bristol


Image: Bristol Live

Bleed kits should be in taxis and become more accessible in businesses in Bristol as the city continues to curb knife crime. Ashley ward councillor and businessman Abdul Malik made the suggestion after new bleed kits were installed at the Malcolm X Community Centre and inside the Green Melon on Ashley Road in St Pauls.

The kits provide essential tools to help slow the bleeding in case of a knife crime attack and contain tourniquets, bandages, gels and tools and advice which could prevent people from bleeding to death while paramedics race to the scene. Abdul Malik was pleased to pay for a bleed kit inside the Green Melon community hub, which will be available for public use during the shop’s opening hours.

Cllr Malik outlined how essential bleed kits are in any area and even called for them to be installed in taxis across the city. He added this could help save lives in time-critical situations if users could use a smartphone app to locate their nearest kit.

He said: “If there’s an area outside a shop or inside the premises if there’s somewhere they need a bleed kit, they are good places to install them. They are full of plasters, wraps scissors, as well as instructions on different parts of the body and how to stop the bleed.

“Anyone who wants to benefit from one should reach out. The bleed kit is an essential item.

“Every taxi should have one. I will talk to Bristol City Council about it as it is a lifesaver and emergency response to an injury. For example, if someone like Uber or taxi firm could get involved, that could mean someone calls 999 and they could be directed to the nearest bleed kit.

“There should be a way to coordinate bleed kits or deliberators and they could be guided through the Uber system or through a smartphone app and tell them where one is in the area.”

While the bleed kit at Green Melon has not been used yet, Cllr Malik said he has helped defuse two arguments outside the hub that he feels could have dangerously escalated. He said: “We have had two conflicts outside and I reached out and stopped both people. I just walked out and said 'guys stop' and they moved away.

“I am a qualified mediator and I want to calm down and listen and communicate with each side and help. There are things that can be done to resolve issues and may well be key in resolving long-standing issues like knife crime that we see today.”

He said he is awaiting permission to move the bleed kit outside so it can be made available 24 hours a day.

Bleed kits have become more present in Bristol since campaigner Leanne Reynolds began championing their importance, following the death of Dontae Davis in Lawrence Hill in October 2021. Her mission has secured backing from the NHS and the Daniel Baird Foundation - a charity which set up to raise money to buy and install the kits following the death of a 26-year-old who was stabbed in Birmingham in 2017.

Cllr Malik is a signatory for the Together for Change campaign, which has seen community leaders, groups, schools and sports facilities join Bristol’s media and demand change and say enough is enough. We have set out six key aims:

Together For Change Aims

Set up a task force - We will develop a community-driven task force to meet and discuss the issue, how best to tackle it and how we can make a real difference with those in power.

Getting knives off the street - We will work with the campaigners to raise awareness of initiatives designed to get knives off the streets.

Social media - We will look at the Online Safety Bill and see if it goes far enough where it comes to harmful knife-related content on social media and how easy it is for children to see.

Raise awareness - We will work together to raise the awareness of how knife crime is linked to poverty, education, employment, social exclusion and the collapse in youth services

Lobby the government -We will cover the issue in the context of the General Election, using our findings from the taskforce and our reporting to lobby for change

Hold power to account - We will scrutinise and hold Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council to account on their plans and models to make Bristol safer

I'd prefer decent instructions on how to work out all the totally daft stuff in my new motor rather than instructions on different body parts on how to stop them bleeding

But what could possibly go wrong?


How could they possibly organise that, and how could it possibly go wrong? Again

(And presumably that should read 'defibrillator'. Or maybe it's a slightly obscure word for the mediator stuff he does? To 'deliberate' means to think about something carefully... )

But all wishful thinking, I'd guess

I suppose these kits are slightly different from some of the stuff that often gets suggested for our trade.

These kits will only be used if someone is dying; hopefully, they will never need to be used by a cabby.

The way I look at it is if I came across someone who has just been stabbed I wouldn't ignore him, I would call 999 and wait with him. If I could stop the fella dying with a bandage kit of some kind, then surely I or everyone else would.

Now would I buy one, I doubt it, but if given one I would be happy to stick it in the boot in the hope it would never be used.

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IDFIMH

The stuff in this piece is a bit more cautious and nuanced than the headline might suggest.

I'd guess it won't go ahead because of the risks, as stated, and will be left voluntary, or something like that. But stuff like this is good for virtue-signalling councillors


Calls for bleed kits in taxis backed by South Gloucestershire councillors

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bris ... ed-9301390

The equipment can save lives in the crucial minutes following a knife attack

South Gloucestershire councillors have backed calls in Bristol for bleed kits to be carried in all taxis because of the scourge of knife crime. Newly elected Ashley ward Green Cllr Abdul Malik last week said the vital equipment, which includes tourniquets, bandages, gels and advice, should be much more widely available because it can save lives in the critical minutes following an attack.

He pledged to speak to the city council about providing drivers with the kits. South Gloucestershire Council regulatory committee members welcomed the idea but said cabbies must be trained fully beforehand.

The local authority is drawing up a new taxi and private hire vehicle licensing policy, and officers will now look at including plans to require or encourage drivers to carry bleed kits as part of that. Cllr Mike Bell (Labour, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield), who raised the issue at the committee, said: “They are quite small packages and we could encourage our drivers to carry bleed kits.”

Cllr Ron Hardie (Labour, Emersons Green) said: “It’s a great idea to put bleed kits in taxis because it makes them available to so many more people. But at the same time if you’re going to provide them in taxis, you need to educate the people who carry them to make sure they know how to use them.

“We have our concerns on a local level with bleed kits that we are supplied, that people aren’t educated in how to use tourniquets properly and they can cause a lot of damage if they’re not used properly.”

Cllr Carol Strange (Conservative, Longwell Green) said: “I understand there are instructions inside the bleed kit so that if a member of the public should access one of the public offers, they will know what to do.

“Perhaps one per cent might go wrong but we’ve got to take that the overall 99 per cent will be great.”

Cllr Keith Cranney (Conservative, Stoke Gifford) said: “I don’t see a problem with having it but the people that have them onboard would be expected to use them, so yes, they would need training.

“It opens up a bigger issue as to what is going to be expected of our licensed trade in the future. If we’re going to start adding on that they’re going to take on virtually paramedic issues as well then they do need training, otherwise they could be sued for not having done things correctly.

“A tourniquet has got to be used properly.”

He said South Gloucestershire was the first council to introduce mandatory safeguarding for cabbies.

Cllr Cranney said: “It would be nice if we could turn around and say all of our drivers are first-aid trained as well. But it needs to be given officer time and reports, and let’s see how it’s possible to bring it in.”

Council service director for place Andrew Birch told the meeting on Thursday, May 16: “We’re about to go to a review of our taxi policy and the requirements we put on drivers’ vehicles. That’s probably best to be considered as part of that policy review.”

Just think of the possible repercussions for the cabby who may have need to use one, the chance of catching a blood-related problem such as hepatitus, HIV etc. The potential liability of someone not qualified in first aid making a fatal or life-changing decision. No.

I was at an event last week where one of these kits was briefly demonstrated.

Basically they are a tourniquet, a big bandage, and some giant plasters. Nothing complicated.

I do get the issue of catching something untoward, but would any of us just stand by when someone was dying and do nothing?

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IDFIMH

Probably not, but in this era of blame and sue culture I think twice. A few weeks ago I was driving a rail replacement bus round Docklands, luckily going empty to Canning Town, when I saw a man lying in the road at a pedestrian crossing. A small group of people were around him. I decided the best thing I could do was to block the road, a dual carriageway, with my bus and await an ambulance. It took about 15-20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but I remained on scene blocking the road util they'd finished their business and took the chap away. I was driving a service bus which doesn't carry a first aid kit.

I doubt a first aid or bleed kit would have helped. I don't know what his injuries were.

who's Sue Culture I've never heard of her

seriously though if you have first aid training Maybe you could make a difference but you could equally make things worse if you don't know what you are doing.

If this comes in we could be reading a story in a year or so of a driver that's ended up in court because they got it wrong

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector