Plea By Medic To Move Market
By Jo Deeks on Thursday, 18th March 2004.
The co-ordinator of Haverhill's First Responder team has called for the town's Saturday market to be moved before someone dies.
Furious Margaret Marks cited an incident last Saturday when neither an ambulance nor a First Responder's vehicle could get into the High Street to answer a 999 call.
She said market stallholders who were clearing stalls refused to move their vehicles and swore at an ambulance crew member. The crew then had to run up the High Street carrying a stretcheer from Balmforths, past Woolworths to attend to the casualty.
"These vital minutes could have cost a life," Mrs Marks said.
"If it had been a cardiac arrest the person would have died. When it is a 999 call the ambulance has got to get in there straight away. Our First Responder attended too and the market inspector did not even seem to know who he was. Normally we would get there first, so something has to be done to ensure this does not happen again. We cannot afford to wait until someone dies before we do something about it."
"We have a purpose built area for market stalls which is successfully utilised on a Friday - stop this nonsense and move the Saturday market to its proper place."
Andrew Thompson, the first responder who attended the incident, said that traders refused to move, even though the ambulance had its 'blues and twos' on.
He said: "If you are attending an emergency you expect to get a bit of co-operation. We had to run up the street with a stretcher.
"The market should not be there, there just is not enough room. Ambulance crews have had problems getting through before."
A spokesman for St Edmundsbury Borough Council said: "Relocation of the market into the High Street on Saturdays has been extremely successful and normally a route for emergency vehicles is maintained throughout the day. However, during the period when the market is setting up or closing down there could be times when this route is blocked."
The spokesman said the market inspector had been asked to investigate the problem but there were no proposals to move the market.
Furious Margaret Marks cited an incident last Saturday when neither an ambulance nor a First Responder's vehicle could get into the High Street to answer a 999 call.
She said market stallholders who were clearing stalls refused to move their vehicles and swore at an ambulance crew member. The crew then had to run up the High Street carrying a stretcheer from Balmforths, past Woolworths to attend to the casualty.
"These vital minutes could have cost a life," Mrs Marks said.
"If it had been a cardiac arrest the person would have died. When it is a 999 call the ambulance has got to get in there straight away. Our First Responder attended too and the market inspector did not even seem to know who he was. Normally we would get there first, so something has to be done to ensure this does not happen again. We cannot afford to wait until someone dies before we do something about it."
"We have a purpose built area for market stalls which is successfully utilised on a Friday - stop this nonsense and move the Saturday market to its proper place."
Andrew Thompson, the first responder who attended the incident, said that traders refused to move, even though the ambulance had its 'blues and twos' on.
He said: "If you are attending an emergency you expect to get a bit of co-operation. We had to run up the street with a stretcher.
"The market should not be there, there just is not enough room. Ambulance crews have had problems getting through before."
A spokesman for St Edmundsbury Borough Council said: "Relocation of the market into the High Street on Saturdays has been extremely successful and normally a route for emergency vehicles is maintained throughout the day. However, during the period when the market is setting up or closing down there could be times when this route is blocked."
The spokesman said the market inspector had been asked to investigate the problem but there were no proposals to move the market.
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