Brick thrown at GNAAS' rapid response vehicle
A brick was thrown at the Great North Air Ambulance Service’s (GNAAS) rapid response vehicle after attending an incident on Bonfire Night.
Two doctors and a paramedic from GNAAS had responded to reports of an assault in Trimdon Station.
The North East Ambulance Service’s (NEAS) HART team also attended the incident, and after assessing the patient’s injuries, they were taken to hospital by a NEAS road crew for further treatment.
The team from GNAAS were leaving the scene at 7.40pm to head back to their base, which is in Urlay Nook, Eaglescliffe, when a brick was thrown at their car, which hit the rear passenger side window and door.
GNAAS paramedic Jamie Walsh said: “The bang it made was pretty terrifying but thankfully we were all ok. Luckily it didn’t hit the centre of the window where our doctor was sitting as it would have come through and could have caused catastrophic injuries.”
“NEAS HART’s vehicle was also targeted and they had a brick thrown at their bonnet. This is not a common occurrence, so we are very shocked and disappointed by the incident.
“There was no major damage to the window or door of our vehicle so we were able to continue to respond to incidents throughout the night.
“However, it will still cost the charity to repair it, and in the current economic climate every penny counts more than ever, so it’s a shame that we will have to divert funds that are normally reserved for helping critically ill or injured people, towards fixing the damage of the car.”
Saturday is usually one of the busiest nights for GNAAS, and the team were activated five times after the incident with the brick.
The charity currently has a paramedic and doctor team working on a rapid response vehicle five nights a week in the North East, and during the day time they operate on a helicopter.
The charity hopes to be able to expand their night-time service to seven nights a week but this can only be achieved if they raise the additional required funding.
It costs £7.7m a year to keep the service operational and in the last financial year 2021/22 the critical care team from GNAAS responded to 1,732 incidents on both their helicopters and rapid response vehicles.