Calls for first responders to be allowed to use restricted roads for emergency calls

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

A volunteer calling for first responders to be able to use restricted roads like bus lanes in Cardiff has spoken of the frustration of being issued a parking fine whilst attending a life-critical call.

Roger Marshall, who is community first responder with the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust, is one of a number of volunteer first responders who are urging the council to make it easier for them to attend an emergency.

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said all volunteer first responders are allowed to use bus lanes and that if they are issued a penalty charge notice (PCN) they can appeal it with evidence that they are attending an emergency call.

However, many volunteer first responders attend emergency callouts in their own vehicles and going through the appeal process can take a lot of time and work – time that first responder Roger said could be saved by having another system in place.

“I went to… an emergency call, a red call, at a bus stop,” said Roger.

“[I] parked on double-yellow lines because it was a red call and I thought the person was running out of time.”

First responders

Community first responders are alerted by the ambulance service when a 999 call is made and sent to specific types of incidents in their area, often arriving at the scene of an emergency to provide essential care before an ambulance arrives.

A red call refers to an immediately life-threatening situation.

There are also amber calls, which refer to a life-threatening or serious situation, and green calls which are deemed not serious or life-threatening.

Roger said: “[I] parked safely… not obstructing and halfway through my management [team] said to me: ‘That guy is booking you’ and an ambulance arrived at the time.

“They took over and I went down to speak to him and he said: ‘You should have driven to the bottom of the road’.”

“I explained to him. I was in uniform and then eventually I did get off to be fair but very grudgingly.

“I had to get letters and go through all of the process.

“Of course what I really wanted them to do was… say: ‘This is a sensible thing to be doing’, noting the safety of the community in Cardiff.”

Disciplined 

Roger said that he and his other volunteer colleagues are professional and disciplined, adding that community first responders aren’t allowed to speed and have to obey the Highway Code.

He also said that community first responders will avoid going into bus lanes.

However it has happened by accident during some callouts.

These can also get overturned but Roger said this is “jolly hard work”.

On what it is like being a first responder during periods of high congestion in the city, he said: “To be honest when you are going to a red call it is frustrating.

“You know that your patient is running out of time.

“We reckon, a general rule, for every minute of delay after an arrest… [the] chances of them having a good recovery drops by 10%.”

Motion

A motion was recently put forward at a full Cardiff Council meeting by Independent Conservatives, councillors Emma Reid-Jones and Peter Littlechild, calling for volunteer first responders to be able to use bus lanes and other restricted roads in the city.

The motion, eventually amended by the Labour group, asks the council to support the principle that volunteer first responders should also be enabled to register on council systems so that they aren’t fined on restricted roads such as school zones, bus lanes, and residential restricted areas.

Cardiff Council said the motion, which currently has cross-party support, will come forward at a future date.

Roger said he couldn’t say how much being able to use bus lanes would cut off his and other volunteer first responders’ response time.

However, he added: “It will give us the opportunity to get to the scene as quickly as possible without any artificial limitations on that.”

Roger has been a volunteer responder with the Welsh Ambulance Services Trust for nine years and currently lives in north Cardiff.

He said: “If I am going down Caerphilly Road and down into town it is just one long bus lane and I might be going to a call in Gabalfa.

“Well that could knock a significant amount of time off my journey.

“Sticking to the speed limits, which we’d have to… but it would be fairly smooth progress.

“It is going to contribute to our ability to serve the people in Cardiff as well as we possibly can.”

The motion published ahead of the Cardiff Council meeting on January 30 states that the council resolves to ask cabinet members to bring forward a report within three months detailing how the proposals to support volunteer first responders can be achieved.

In a joint statement Cllr Reid-Jones and Cllr Littlechild said: “We were delighted to get cross-party support to allow voluntary first responders to be granted access to bus lanes and restricted roads to improve their response times as in an emergency situation we all know every second count.

“We look forward to working with colleagues to ensure this is implemented as soon as possible.

“We would like to also thank our voluntary first responders and the Welsh Ambulance Service for all they do in our communities”.

Another community first responder with Welsh Ambulance Services Trust, Paul Rudolph, said callouts can be varied.

Like Roger, he said volunteers have to abide by the Highway Code and travel in their personal vehicles.

He also said that if volunteer first responders were allowed to use bus lanes and other restricted roads they could attend the scene of an emergency quicker and that this could save a life.

On how much of a difference the proposed changes would make, Paul said: “There are a lot of bus lanes around Cardiff, especially when you are going through the centre and also parking then will be a lot easier… just to park in a residential permit holder zone in the day and still be able to get close to the patient’s property.”

Appeal

A Cardiff Council spokesman said: “Emergency response vehicles responding to an emergency call have always been able to drive down bus lanes if their emergency lights and sirens are in use.

“We have agreed with the St John Ambulance first responders that they can use bus lanes in an emergency.

“If they are issued with a penalty charge notice they can appeal the notice by providing evidence they are attending an emergency call.”

When pressed for more information regarding community first responders with Welsh Ambulance Services Trust the spokesman said the same would apply to all volunteer first responders.

The Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust website states that you do not need to have any previous medical training to become a community first responder.

Volunteer open days are held across Wales. To find out when the next onboarding event is near where you live visit the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust website

You can also contact the volunteering team via email at [email protected].