London booze bus

[Moscow Mule]

They won't be here for long...

BBC News - Liver disease epidemic warning in North East

[Jeff Maginty]

..

[scooterscot]

What a depressing story.

Violence, abuse, vomit: a night with the 'booze bus' medics at Christmas
Kim Willsher spends a shift with a specialist paramedic crew that deals with the fallout of binge drinking in the capital

At nearly 2am last Friday the young woman lying on a bench outside the bar in London's West End is so drunk she has passed out. She is in no state to notice, much less care, that her short skirt has ridden up – and she does not appear to be wearing knickers – or indeed that her Gucci handbag and credit cards are there for the taking.

Not a pretty or dignified sight, but more dangerous and disturbing is that the girl is easy prey for a passing attacker. Paramedic Brian Hayes shakes his head: "Look at the state of her. These young women just don't realise what risks they're taking when they go out and get smashed. They're so vulnerable."

Christmas is the busiest time of the year for the crew of what the medics like to call the London Ambulance Service's "booze bus". Tonight is no exception. The 30-year-old woman helped by Hayes turns out to work for an international bank. He checks her pulse, asks her to open her eyes and tries to get her into the ambulance. But she is unable even to stand.

Violence, abuse, vomit: a night with the 'booze bus' medics at Christmas | Society | The Observer