Restrict Fireworks
The Evidence for March 2009
Mar 6, Witnesses sought
after firework incident, Inverurie Herald
Police officers in Inverurie
are appealing to the local community for help following an incident in the
town's Market Place on Wednesday, February 25 when a
lit firework was thrown into commercial premises.
The incident occurred about
1pm in the stairwell of an office in Market Place, near Inverurie's main
shopping area.
PC David Stewart, who is investigating the incident, is appealing for anyone
who was in the area at the time to come forward, especially school pupils, who
were in the area during their lunch hour.
PC Stewart said: "The danger of holding a lit firework is clear but the
throwing of this item into a busy commercial premises is disgraceful given the
risk of injury to staff or members of the public.
"There is also the additional risk of starting a fire when these items
explode and this type of behaviour will not to be tolerated in Inverurie or any
other town in Grampian."
Crime Reduction Officer, PC Malcolm Grant, added: "It is disappointing
that once again those in the minority have chosen to behave in this way.
"I would urge those law abiding school pupils who were enjoying their
lunch hour in the town centre, or any other members of the public with
information, including parents, to contact ourselves, or if you wish to remain
anonymous, the independent charity Crimestoppers. I would also ask the person
responsible to consider their actions and identity themselves to the
Police."
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Grampian
Police on 0845 600 5 700 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 if wishing to remain
anonymous.
Youths aged 11-16 are asked to check the Crimestoppers website at
www.shadowcs.co.uk which allows them to get involved in discussions about
crime.
Mar 6, Witnesses sought after firework incident, Inverurie Herald
Mar 12, Disaster narrowly
avoided after yob hurls firework over takeaway counter, This is Somerset
An explosion at a Somerset
takeaway was narrowly avoided when a large firework
was thrown over the counter.
The firework almost landed in
hot cooking oil at Chung Ying takeaway in Alexandra Road, Frome.
Police say they do not know
how the suspect got his hands on the firework, which was a large device
licensed for public displays only.
The incident happened on
Wednesday, March 4 at 6.25pm.
Police are hunting a man who
was wearing a black hoody and black jeans. Anyone who knows who the man is, or
who has seen the distinctive fireworks similar to the one used in the
inicident, is asked to call PC Martha Spikes on 0845 456 7000.
Mar 12, Disaster narrowly
avoided after yob hurls firework over takeaway counter, This is Somerset
Mar 16, Firework put
through letterbox, Diss Express
A lit firework
was put through the letterbox of a house in north Suffolk.
The front door of the house
in Eye was damaged in the incident, which happened at about 10.45pm on
Saturday.
A police spokesman said no-one inside the house was injured and the firework
burned out without causing damage to anything apart from the door.
Anyone with information about this crime should contact Pc Andrew Pursehouse at
Eye Police, 01284 774100 or Crimestoppers anonymously, 0800 555111.
Mar 16, Firework put
through letterbox, Diss Express
Mar 16, Tragic
Winnie’s family call for end to solo ambulance crews, BBC News
A woman died of a heart
attack while yobs launched fireworks at the
helpless ambulance worker who was trying to get into her home to save her.
Winnie Jones, a 57 year-old
mum of three, was deprived of vital medical care for ten minutes while the
unaided paramedic waited for back up.
Now her family are demanding
an end to the single crewing of ambulances, claiming it cost Winnie’s life.
But the Scottish Ambulance
Service insisted they played everything by the book, sending a solo Fast
Response unit, followed by a manager to help him and a duel-crewed ambulance.
Winnie’s daughter desperately
tried to revive her while the volunteer medic was pinned down alone in his
vehicle under a barrage of missiles.
He bravely made
a break for the house and was even hit in the back by a lit firework.
But his mercy dash was in
vain, as the mum of three had stopped breathing and died three days later in
hospital.
Winnie’s devastated family
say the sick thugs behind the firework attack live just yards across the road
from their home. But they won’t be asking for an apology.
Her heartbroken husband Fred,
77, said: “I’m devastated. Nothing will ever bring my wife back.
“We know who did this. Some
people have told me they’ll go and throttle the lads, but I’m not a vindictive
or violent person.
“If they hold their hands up
and say sorry, then fine. All we want now are lessons to be learned and for
this to never happen to anybody else.”
As a dedicated community care worker, Winnie spent her life visiting the
elderly in Penicuik, Midlothian.
Her daughter Angela, 36,
followed in her footsteps as a carer and wants action to prevent emergency
workers coming under attack.
She said: “It shouldn’t take
my mum dying and a poor ambulance man getting hit by fireworks to make MSPs
realise that something needs to change.
“I tried to give my mum CPR but there’s only so long that can work.
“I was totally shocked to see
that there was only one person in the First Response van and then only one paramedic in the
ambulance after that.
“If there had been two medics
to start with, one of them could have phoned the police and the other could
have come to help.
“He tried his best and we
can’t fault his efforts for a second, but it wasn’t until a third one came that
there was a vehicle with more than one person in it.”
Winnie’s son Christopher
added: “If the medic wasn’t being shot at by fireworks he would have got in
sooner and could have revived my mum quicker.
“We’ll never know if she
would have survived but we know she would have had a better chance.
“Maybe some good for other
families will come out of us speaking up for the selfless workers who tried to
save my mum.”
Ambulance spokesman John
Morton was keen to stress that proper procedures were followed during the
January 23 incident.
He said: “Obviously it has
been a terrible time for the family and I sympathise with their point that the
first man on the scene could have done with assistance.
“This came in the form of a
manager, who was then followed by two in an ambulance.
“We can obviously understand
the point being made by the family, but First Responders are there as a faster
mobile response ahead of an ambulance.
“They are certainly not an
alternative to ambulances.”
The Jones family’s MSP Jeremy
Purvis, whose dad was an ambulance paramedic for over 30 years, said
the attack was “very concerning.”
He said: “I am very sorry to
hear of the distress the family must have endured.
“It would be awfully
disappointing to hear that the ambulance service is being let down by the
single-manning of vehicles.
“Nicola Sturgeon has been very clear that there should be no
single-manning of vehicles and I will certainly be raising this with the chief
executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service.
“I would hope there is no
complacency on their behalf due to the fact that Penicuik has First Responders,
who do a sterling job.
“It is intolerable for the
dedicated people serving the community to be under attack while doing their jobs.
“They should be able to get
on with that completely unimpeded.”
Mar 16, Tragic
Winnie’s family call for end to solo ambulance crews, BBC News
Mar 16, Woman lay dying as
paramedic was under attack, STV
Winnie Jones suffered a heart
attack at home but the paramedic dispatched to help her was trapped in his van
as teenagers pelted the vehicle with fireworkers.
A grandfather whose wife died
after fireworks were thrown at an ambulance has spoken of how he cannot bring
himself to blame anyone for her death.
The paramedic was trying to
come to Winnie Jones's aid after she suffered a heart attack, but was delayed
for 15 vital minutes.
Her grieving husband has
refused to condemn the teenagers involved - saying only that he hoped they had
learned their lesson.
Fred Jones had never expected
to outlive his wife Winnie. She was 20 years his junior. Now he visits her
grave every day.
The 57-year-old collapsed at
the family home in Penicuik. When the paramedic arrived he was hit by a
firework - and had to wait in his ambulance until back-up arrived. Inside, Mrs
Jones's daughter Angela was giving her CPR.
She told stv: "Because
of the firework incident he was delayed for about ten-to-15 minutes before he
could get in. All I do know is they managed to get her heart beating again, and
they managed to get her breathing, but she'd been starved of oxygen for so long
that she was brain dead."
Mrs Jones never regained
consiousness and died three days later. Her husband does not condemn the
teenagers involved. He says no one can tell him for certain if their
actions contributed to her death.
Mr Jones said: "Well,
who knows? Maybe, maybe not. I don't think there will be anybody now who will
be able to tell me, not for sure anyway. I wouldn't really like to say that
because then I'm blaming somebody for her death. I don't want to do that. I
hope they've learned their lesson that's all. And I hope it never happens
again. It's done. It can't be undone. That's it."
Police are investigating but
no arrests have been made so far. The ambulance service simply said the actions
of the teenagers were "difficult to understand."
In 2008, there were around
250 attacks on Scottish Ambulance Service staff. The paramedics are instructed
to wait for back-up if it happens.
They will never know for sure,
but Winnie Jones's family will always wonder if that delay cost her her life.
Mar 16, Woman lay dying as
paramedic was under attack, STV
Mar 23, Schoolboy hit by
firework thrown from car, This is Gloucestershire
A firework
thrown from a moving car struck a schoolboy
in Podsmead last week.
The incident occurred at a
bus stop outside Crypt School last Friday at around 3.45pm.
A group of school children
were stood at the side of the road when a car drove past and slowed down.
An explosive device, believed
to be a firework, was then thrown out of the passenger window.
It hit the leg of a
12-year-old boy from Quedgeley, burning holes in his clothes but causing no
injury.
The vehicle continued
travelling in the direction of Cole Avenue.
Anyone who witnessed the
incident, or who has any information about it, is asked to contact
Gloucestershire Constabulary on 0845 090 1234 quoting incident 352 of March 20.
Alternatively call
Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Mar 23, Schoolboy hit by
firework thrown from car, This is Gloucestershire
Mar 29, Fans attack police
with fireworks, BBC News
Football fans
threw fireworks at police after Northern
Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Poland in Belfast.
Between 50 and 60 Northern
Ireland fans clashed with police at a roundabout at the bottom of Tates Avenue,
outside Windsor Park football ground.
Police said nine people, the
majority of them Polish, were earlier arrested after trouble at a city centre
pub.
The match, which Northern
Ireland won 3-2, was briefly halted after an object thrown from the crowd hit a
linesman.
Riot police
Fireworks, bricks and bottles
were thrown between the two sets of fans outside the stadium, and it is
understood several people were injured during the disturbances.
Riot police in armoured Land
Rovers were deployed as fans made their way to the ground, and residents were
advised by police to stay indoors.
During the game play was
suspended for five minutes after a linesman was hit on the head with a small
object thrown from the crowd.
Northern Ireland Sports
Minister Gregory Campbell, who was at the game, told BBC News one confrontation
began after some Polish supporters unfurled a republican flag.
He said: "There were
some Polish fans who introduced one of the Irish republican flags, that are
supportive of the group that killed the soldiers and the policeman a few weeks
ago, which obviously then led to even more tension.
"I suspect and heard
that there were further scenes of violence then immediately after the
game."
Premises closed
Trouble started in the city
centre shortly before 1500 GMT on when Northern Ireland and Poland fans
gathered in the same Wetherspoons pub on Bedford Street.
A Wetherspoons spokesman said
he understood it began following an "altercation between a Polish fan and
a local".
The spokesman estimated
damage which could run into thousands of pounds was caused, and the premises
was closed.
The Polish fans were kept
inside the ground for nearly an hour after the match, which kicked-off at 1715
GMT.
The incidents marred a great
result for Northern Ireland, who moved to the top of their World Cup qualifying
group.
Mar 29, Fans attack police
with fireworks, BBC News
Mar 31, Man arrested over
fireworks stash, BBC News
A 25-year-old man has been
arrested under the Explosives Act after a large
stash of fireworks were found at a flat in a Birmingham suburb.
Homes on Swan Gardens in
Erdington were evacuated during the evening while an army bomb disposal team
was brought in.
Local roads and the
cross-city railway line were shut while the area was made safe.
Earlier, bomb disposal
officers were called to a flat in Plymouth after the discovery of
"firework-like devices".
In that incident police said
Royal Navy bomb experts were called out as a precautionary measure to ensure
the devices were safe and several people were arrested.
Mar 31, Man arrested over
fireworks stash, BBC News
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