Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver buys £1,000 defibrillator for his car out of own money to help save lives

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/not ... or-1917563

'I hope I never have to use it but it's nice to know it's there'


(Image: Nottingham Post / Picture It)

A taxi driver has shelled out £1,000 of his own money to provide a defibrillator in his car to help save lives.

Richard Le Blond, 73, of Ruddington, has been a taxi driver since 1976 and currently works for Southside Cars, a Clifton-based taxi firm, who claim they are the first taxi company in Nottingham to have a defibrillator in their fleet.

His selfless act came about as he takes a lot of elderly people to and from hospital in his taxi when he realised there were not many options for emergency care if someone was to fall ill.

Mr Le Blond added: "I was working and taking some people down to Queen's Medical Centre when I realised there aren't many defibrillators around that I know about and I've never known of one in a taxi before.

"The majority of people I take are elderly so I thought it would be an ideal place to have one.

"I bought one for just over £1,000 and Brent (Southside Cars general manager) said it was a great idea.

"It's into its second week of use now, I've had it since August 13 in the car. It wouldn't just be for me to have, I would leave it in the office if I was away.

"I am fully trained in using it safely through St John Ambulance first aid and CPR training, it's quite self-explanatory.

"I hope I never have to use it but it's nice to know it's there."


(Image: Nottingham Post / Picture It)

Brent Foster, general manager of Southside Cars said the potential to fundraise to provide more defibrillators in taxis is something the company would look at in the future.

He said: "We are the first and only company in Nottingham to have a driver with a defibrillator in a taxi.

"He is fully trained to use it. There is quite a lot of elderly people in the community in Clifton and people with heart conditions so I think it's great we are providing it and took it upon ourselves to raise awareness.

"The only defibrillator I am aware of in Clifton is the one at the Co-op near the bottom of Farnborough Road.

"We decided as a company to go with Richard's suggestion and backed the idea. It's important to have.

"We have 50 to 60 drivers so it could provide the opportunity to start fundraising to provide more of them.

"Unfortunately ambulances can take time in some situations. There can be a lot of situations where people are waiting to be taken to hospital for 30 or 40 minutes so it may save lives.

"A charity in Lancashire, Heart Failure Aware, have reached out to us to say how important the decision is for potentially saving lives."

Up to the driver what he spends his cash on, but you worry that some councillor or official might read this kind of thing and come up with an idea...

A truly Shocking story..

Moray taxi company becomes first in Scotland to operate and carry defibrillators

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... rillators/



A Moray taxi firm is believed to have become the first in Scotland to operate and carry a defibrillator in one of its cars.

The owner of the newly launched 247 Cars service has invested in one of the devices in case it is needed to save the life of a member of the public or a passenger.

Three employees carried out first-aid training on Tuesday so they were qualified to perform CPR and use the defibrillators properly.

Business owner and driver Moira Spence used £980 of her own money to pay for the device, and is planning to fundraise for more money to buy three more for the rest of the fleet.

She came up with the idea because her own father previously suffered a heart attack.

She said: “My dad had a couple of strokes and a heart attack as well. And I had a friend who suffered a heart attack. Taxi drivers should have training on basic first-aid skills and it’s good for them to know how to use a defibrillator.

“I’ve got a paramedic friend who was interested in what we were doing and thinks it is a good idea as well.”

Ms Spence said she was keen to help out in the case of a medical emergency as she was aware of recent ambulance shortages in the Moray region.

She said she would make sure a taxi driver was always on shift who was trained how to use it.

She said: “I know sometimes the ambulance service is quite short and it’s something we can to do give back just to help the public.

“We are going to be fundraising to get some more, and that is in the early stages just now.

“We are aiming to get another three more and that should be enough.”

Wonder where they got that idea from?

Certainly a good way to generate some free publicity for your 'newly launched' taxi firm though

From this article drivers are working 7/7 constantly.

taxi drivers are NOT medical professionals I certainly would not feel confident in using or would be willing to risk getting sued if i got the operation wrong and the person died

You do need to know what you are doing

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The need them in Scotland.

They most be charging really big money....if they need them

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Not sure about the ones being offered by the cab firms in the above articles, but the ones we have done here that can be found on many walls in many buildings are basically do it yourself.

All someone has to do is put them on the body and they do the shocks and stuff themselves.

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IDFIMH