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Back when I was a local newspaper reporter, I brought a story to my editor: “A paramedic was assaulted by a patient on the way to hospital,” I said. He dismissed it instantly—“That never happens. Check your source.” But the story was true. So rare in 1974, it ran on our front page for two weeks.
Fast-forward to today: an investigation by my colleagues at Good Morning Britain revealed that assaults on ambulance workers have surged by a shocking 15%. By the end of today, around 60 UK paramedics will have been attacked—three every hour, adding up to nearly 22,500 a year. It’s no longer shocking news. It’s become disturbingly routine.
I recently spoke with two medics who were attacked on duty. Charlotte Miller had only been on the job a year when a patient in her ambulance sexually assaulted her repeatedly. She managed to call police, and the man was later jailed—for just nine months, serving only four. Despite the trauma, Charlotte returned to work just two hours later. Her bravery is extraordinary.
Gary Watson was helping a drunk, confused man into his ambulance when the man suddenly turned violent. Gary and his colleague fought him off for nearly 10 minutes until police arrived. Gary was left with serious injuries and was off work for three months. His attacker? A suspended sentence.
This is unacceptable. Ambulance crews are there to save lives, not to risk theirs. They can’t fight back—we must protect them, with tougher, exemplary sentences for those who attack them.
On a lighter note, my first car was a sky-blue Ford Anglia—the same one Harry Potter would later fly. It “flew” once for real, when I crashed it on a country road. We were lucky to walk away unharmed. I sold it for a few hundred pounds—long before it became a movie icon worth serious money.
And speaking of surprise comebacks: Reform UK is making waves. A super poll this week puts Nigel Farage's party ahead with 180 seats, outpacing Labour and the Conservatives, who are tied at 165 each. It even predicts nine Cabinet ministers losing their seats.
Polls can be fickle, of course—I remember when the SDP looked like it might reshape politics in the '80s, only to fade fast. But this time feels different. Farage says he has momentum, and it’s hard to argue. With local elections looming and the major parties struggling, it seems Britain is on the verge of something new—and potentially shocking.
