Someone’s in trouble, but where can you find help?

Published: 30 June, 2011

• HAS anyone in West Kentish Town tried to get some non-urgent help from the police lately?

On Sunday morning I came across a very elderly man in a wheelchair of which a wheel had broken. 

A lady was trying to help but didn’t really know what to do. Neither did I. I got into my car and drove off.

Providentially, between Queen’s Crescent (where this took place) and Harmood Street, where I live, I came across a stationary Camden single-decker bus which was full of people in wheelchairs and the ramp was down to allow a newcomer in.

I asked the driver, who was organising the new arrival, if he could do anything to help the man in Queen’s Crescent, which was visible from where we were standing. The answer was that he didn’t have time.

When I got home I tried to ring the local police so they could just make sure that the man wasn’t still stuck and do something about it if he was. I found a number for non-urgent incidents on a fancy Camden card of useful numbers. 

It was unobtainable.  

I dialed 999. They wouldn’t tell me who to call.

I googled Kentish Town police station and called their number. 

A mechanical voice told me they were “exceptionally busy”  and there might be a “significant delay”.

After a couple of minutes someone came on the line. I asked if he was local. He said No and that he would transfer me to control.

When control answered and I asked for someone to go and see if there was someone stuck in a wheelchair near the junction of Queen’s Crescent and Malden Road. He wanted to “take the details” and send an ambulance. 

I said it didn’t need an ambulance. 

He interrupted to say he wasn’t trained to... 

At which point I put down the phone.

What training does it take to cruise down Queen’s Crescent and see if there is someone stuck in a wheelchair with only three wheels?

ESTHER WHITBY
Harmood Street, NW5