thank goodness for students

[tigersaw]

http://www.digitalhen.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14899140

Who was brave enought to get his feet wet to drag out a motionless body face down body from a fountain,

vs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17131333

Who are not allowed to show common sence and at least have a try.

[littleoldman2]

Well done to the student, perhaps all is not lost.

[The Idle Biker]

What a sad joke that second story is. To be frank I amazed the two people in question followed the directive. That's almost as concerning as the directive. Despite story 1, I'm angry...again! bah.

[phi-dan]

force policy not to enter water more than "half a boot" deep unless it was a life-critical situation..
I'd call a man lying face down in the water "life-critical"...

[yorkie_chris]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17131333


You've got to be f***ing kidding...

[carelesschucca]

This kinda stuff really annoys me. It reminds me of the Alison Hume shambles;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15739209

[The Idle Biker]

Sorry for droning on, but when "regs" are so blatantly inappropriate, why do good people turn into marshmallows and just follow like sheep (no jellyfish)?

[AZZ3R]

You've got to be f***ing kidding...

+1, I find that the 'control' are at blame for this, throw the script in the bin when you see someone face down in water. what did they do just watch? I find this article quite sick TBH.

Props to the Student, always nice to hear in a 'stable condition' within a life threatening situation.

[metalangel]

No doubt some pointy-haired manager (who has never done the actual job and knows f-all about it) has warned them against not following procedure as it'll negatively affect their targets/his bonus/discplinary/etc.

Half a boot deep? Have they not seen the condition of the roads in the UK, where the drains are never cleaned and so anything beyond drizzle causes vast lakes to form? That would mean they'd have to let a criminal escape because he's on the other side of the road, there's a big puddle in the way and he's not threatening enough lives for them to be able to run through.

[Red Herring]

Make no mistake, I'm disgusted by that second story and behaviour like that has no place in my vision of an emergency service, but it's not really a very fair comparison. I appreciate the boating lake was described as "shallow" but entering any large expanse of water where you cannot see the bottom is always going to carry greater risk that paddling in a small fountain. Still a great job by the student though, well done to them.

[flymo]

seems that the decisions in the second story hinged on the assumption made that the person was already dead. Whether or not that assumption was correct or not is one thing, how would we know if we weren't there, but if presented with a radio call from somebody actually on scene explaining that there was a dead body in the water I can understand why a controller would back the approach taken.

Who knows what led to that initial assumption, but I doubt they would stand there if they had any cause to believe the person was still alive.

[Owenski]

If they were face down in the water for a period of time before the services arrived its fair to assume he's brown bread. Still doesnt excuse the lack of human sympathy though, BRAVO for the student a ture instinctive hero in that moment lets home someone buys he/she a large bottle of their choice.

[Biker Biggles]

seems that the decisions in the second story hinged on the assumption made that the person was already dead. Whether or not that assumption was correct or not is one thing, how would we know if we weren't there, but if presented with a radio call from somebody actually on scene explaining that there was a dead body in the water I can understand why a controller would back the approach taken.

Who knows what led to that initial assumption, but I doubt they would stand there if they had any cause to believe the person was still alive.

Wouldnt make such a good story for the media though.Its very fashionable just now to pillory emergency services for failing to do this that and everything else.There was a recent case very local to me where the press and local radio went ape about "elf n safety" gone mad and even named someone who failed to do what was required.They had to apologise for dragging someones name through the gutter later,but no one ever reads the retractions do they?