Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Driven to distraction
999: WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY C4, 9pm
THE emergency services certainly sees Britain warts and all – at its most drunk, most reckless, vulnerable or in great danger.
As this compelling fly-on-thewall series returns, we follow the relentless work carried out by Wiltshire’s police, paramedic and fire services.
With emergencies happening every second, in one moment it could be like an episode of One Born Every Minute as a woman goes into labour. The next, responders could be caring for an elderly woman who has fallen, or dealing with dangerous boy racers, as we see tonight.
We’re told that young male drivers are the least safe road users – and judging by what we see, you won’t be arguing with that.
One concerned caller dials 999 and says: “There’s a series of cars having races down the motorway and one of them has just stuck his bum out of the window at 80mph.” There’s laughter of course, but it’s a potentially dangerous situation.
Elsewhere a call comes in that a group of at least a dozen youths have gathered together with their cars and are wheelspinning and revving their engines.
And there’s a high-speed pursuit of a joyrider who turns out to be just 14 years old.
But the award for the biggest idiot goes to the incredulous (and rude) motorist, stopped by a police officer because he’s caught driving on the pavement.
“There’s no sign,” he insists, when challenged by the cop. Oh well, that’s fair enough then.