Being in a helping hand in the right place at the right time

At about 03.15 the patrol was near a nightclub as it was closing and about 700 mainly happy people were preparing to leave the area. Suddenly a man was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he was hit on the head. At first sight there seemed to be a lot of blood so the patrol stepped in and offered basic first aid. Sitting the young man down against a wall just outside the nightclub, the Street Pastors calmed down him and his friends and within 10 minutes the blood had stopped flowing, the wound had been cleaned with sterile water and bandages and the man was able to leave.

The patrol calmed a potentially volatile situation, gave practical first aid and avoided calling out an ambulance and a visit to A&E at the local hospital that would have cost the NHS £374.

(Data taken from NHS reference cost 2015 to 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/577083/Reference_Costs_2015-16.pdf)

Guardian angels?

At about 01.00 on a cold night in March, the Street Pastors on patrol met two girls under 16 years old from a village about 10 miles away who had missed the last train and did not want to contact their families for a lift home. It was a cold night in March but they decided they would sleep out under the local civic centre. At the time there were five other teenagers playing in the area so we gave them foil blankets and bottles of water and reported the situation to Town Control.

At about 02.30 the patrol went to check on the girls because it was so cold. The other teenagers had left so the Street Pastors walked with the girls back to the train station to see if they could stay the night there but it was closed and locked. With the girls’ permission, the patrol contacted the police who sent a car to take the girls to MacDonald’s as they stay open all night and the girls would be warm with access to food, drink, facilities and company.

The patrol had found two young girls in a vulnerable situation and helped to ensure that they were safe.