- Joined
- Aug 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,907
As I have said I was an ambulance attendant/driver for the London Ambulance Service, Before I started in 1960 I had to take written test then a driving test, I passed the written test then had to take a driving test in a large Daimler Ambulance and whist driving along Lambeth Palace Road the examiner told me to turn left into Westminster Bridge Road the traffic was very bad and the examiner panicked and tried to grab the steering wheel as we were turning, I smacked his hand away and told him I was quite aware of the cars along side the left side of the ambulance and there was no problem. I thought he would fail me but he apologized and said I had passed with high mark's. What a relieve!
I started work at the Headquarters on Waterloo bridge road . just short of the bridge.
Whilst I was there we had the duty police officer from Scotland Yard phone and asked if we could drive passed Scotland Yard a bit slower, as one ambulance went passed so fast they couldn?t believe their eye?s. I often drove at over 85 mph as the ambulance was so fast and stable, it had 9 inches of concrete in the back to keep the back wheels on the ground..
I was with the ambulances for over 3 years before I had to leave after my accident, and in that time I had 11 dead patient?s, from natural courses to suicides,
One dead was a young woman about 20 years of age who put tape around the doors and windows , put a cushion by the gas oven and turned it on, laid down and died . this was common way to die. The gas was coal gas and was not painful like natural gas.
Another was a guy about 30 years of age, jumped in front of a tube train at Aldgate East Station. He was a mess and we had to clean up the pieces , I then took the body to the London Hospital in the Mile End Road. I got there and the doctor rushed out and looked at the body and said ?What should I do? I said pronounce him dead. You see at that time ambulance personnel could not pronounce him dead,. I then took him to the morgue. My partner had stayed at the station to comfort some of the witnesses so I went back to pick him up. But the funny part of the story was the next day at work my wife?s colleague told her that her husband had jumped in from of a tube train, and it was not the first time he had tried to commit suicide , my wife tried comfort her the best she could.
I will try to put more down if it is acceptable?
LONDON BLITZ
I started work at the Headquarters on Waterloo bridge road . just short of the bridge.
Whilst I was there we had the duty police officer from Scotland Yard phone and asked if we could drive passed Scotland Yard a bit slower, as one ambulance went passed so fast they couldn?t believe their eye?s. I often drove at over 85 mph as the ambulance was so fast and stable, it had 9 inches of concrete in the back to keep the back wheels on the ground..
I was with the ambulances for over 3 years before I had to leave after my accident, and in that time I had 11 dead patient?s, from natural courses to suicides,
One dead was a young woman about 20 years of age who put tape around the doors and windows , put a cushion by the gas oven and turned it on, laid down and died . this was common way to die. The gas was coal gas and was not painful like natural gas.
Another was a guy about 30 years of age, jumped in front of a tube train at Aldgate East Station. He was a mess and we had to clean up the pieces , I then took the body to the London Hospital in the Mile End Road. I got there and the doctor rushed out and looked at the body and said ?What should I do? I said pronounce him dead. You see at that time ambulance personnel could not pronounce him dead,. I then took him to the morgue. My partner had stayed at the station to comfort some of the witnesses so I went back to pick him up. But the funny part of the story was the next day at work my wife?s colleague told her that her husband had jumped in from of a tube train, and it was not the first time he had tried to commit suicide , my wife tried comfort her the best she could.
I will try to put more down if it is acceptable?
LONDON BLITZ
