Brave firefighters put lives on line

Aug 24 2008 by Sunday Sun

IN a recent front page article of the Sunday Sun, a reporter by the name of Pauline Holt wrote a story under the headline Flirting Firemen Risking Lives: Chat-up Caught on Camera after allegedly receiving a photograph from a disgruntled taxi driver.

It was accompanied by a photograph which had the caption "firefighters entertain female revellers" underneath it.

The taxi driver goes on to say in the report "It’s an outrage and something needs to be done about it. If a house is burning down where are they? Stuck in town".

As I know many serving firefighters I find this sort of ill-informed and unprofessional reporting an absolute disgrace and to suggest they would "put lives at risk" in any situation, on a presumption, is quite frankly scandalous and unacceptable.

I would ask the following.

Did the "reporter" bother to find out if the fire crew was conducting a fire safety inspection of licensed premises and the driver, who has to remain with the appliance, in case of a fire call was attempting to persuade the women in the picture to move away from the appliance?

Or did the reporter bother to find out if there were any female firefighters on the fire appliance in question, as the headline quite clearly stated firemen?

What actually happened was the firefighter in the photo, who was the driver of the fire appliance, was handing over a set of house keys to his wife who had lost hers and the other female was a drunken passer-by who attempted to mount the fire appliance but was not allowed to, for obvious reasons.

I can assure the taxi driver that if a house or anything else was on fire, crews would be there in minutes. They were not stuck in town, as he put it, they were actually in their station area.

The very same firefighter who is in the photograph would not hesitate to risk his own life to save others, if the situation required, as would every firefighter I know. Some will say that’s what they get paid for, and they would be right. They accept this, however, ask yourself would you, bearing in mind your family and your friends?

They already work under extreme PC conditions as well as being put in very trying situations while doing their everyday jobs.

So-called "reporting" like this can only make there job even more difficult. Please support your firefighters as they do an extremely good job in sometimes very difficult circumstances — NAME SUPPLIED, sent by email.

The Sunday Sun fully supports the work of our firefighters, and their bravery has not been questioned.

We also worked closely with Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service to ascertain why the firefighters were snapped on Newcastle’s Quayside but as they were conducting their own investigation, they were not able to tell us the exact reason.

Our report was supported by eye witness accounts of this happening on more than one occasion and, each time, male fire service personnel were involved.

YOUR article on the young man suffering from ADHD, and being allowed to drive a car, beggars belief.

What on earth were the idiots at the DVLA thinking of?

I would have thought that the words "attention deficit", would have sent alarm bells ringing when granting a driving licence to anyone with this disorder.

Perhaps the clue lies in his quote "Sometimes I miss things like traffic signals and lights and stuff. I get that practically every time I’m in the car".

The treatment for ADHD, involves the use of CNS stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, Dexidrine, which actually have the opposite effect of a stimulant, and slow down reactions in the brain.

The many and varied side effects of these drugs can lead to a lack of concentration, irrational anger, drowsiness et cetera.

ADHD may well be classed as a disability but it is not a good idea to put a sufferer behind the wheel of a car--an accident waiting to happen?

Bewicker, by email.

In relation to your story about the ADHD driver . . . at the risk of sounding like Victor Meldrew . . . "I don’t BELIEVE it!"

How this lad was even allowed to even start driving with six penalty points on the licence before it was issued is beyond me, but to even consider returning a licence to someone who openly admits that, "I miss things like traffic signals and lights and stuff. I get that practically every time I’m in the car.", is absolutely irresponsible.

And perhaps, even worse, he says, "I was furious, so I started driving straight towards him, I don’t really understand how it was careless". This tells me that, the moment he gets back behind the wheel, he would be like a time bomb waiting to go off, if something happens to upset him.

What should we do? Let him loose to drive off and collide with, and perhaps kill, another innocent driver who CAN see the traffic signals and lights? He should be banned permanently for the sake of other road users.

The authorities are pandering to him because they are terrified of being accused of unfair treatment because of his illness. Granted, he may suffer from a genuine illness....but why should OUR lives be put in danger because of it? This is another case of Political correctness gone mad! What will the DVLA do next? Issue a driving licence to Stevie Wonder, perhaps?

Kenrichlan, by email.

IN relation to the story you recently ran in the Sunday Sun on grave stones being knocked down by councils.

Can we please place the blame on the persons who started knocking down memorials in the first place.

The older types of memorials had no cement foundations. Instead they relied on clamps that were fixed from the kerbs into the base of the memorial.

This give the memorial the stability that was needed when the memorial was fixed into the base by a joggle-slat, which had been used for hundreds of years for this purpose.

The council decided to do away with the kerbs so they could get the lawn-mowers up and down the sections, making the cemetery maintenance so much cheaper.

So when the authorities were told of the health and safety implication of grave stones falling over did they go to professionals such as stone masons? No, they employed men from other jobs with no experience to solve the problem. They simply shook the head stones, knocked them flat or buried them into the ground so only the names of the deceased were showing but covering the tributes below.

A qualified stone mason could easily have fixed any problem head stone.

John Sutton, Benwell, Newcastle, retired stone mason.

THE answer to your question of nurseries being financially helped by tax payers I would say no.

Not because of tax but because we were always told that from birth until five years old is the best time for a child and his mother to spend together.

The mother can teach the child so much before going to school . . . how to use a knife and fork, also manners like please and thank you, how to go to toilet on their own, fasten coat and shoes and play and share things, which to me is the mother’s duty, not the teacher’s.

Mrs JH Smith, mother of five, grandmother and great grandmother, address supplied.