Terling: Is it an emergency? (From Braintree and Witham Times)

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Terling: Is it an emergency?

8:40am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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By Ryan McCarthy »

Motorists who end up stranded in a ford after ignoring warning signs should not be rescued by the fire service, according to a village resident.

Paul Harrison of Owls Hill, Terling, says when motorists ignore signs in his village and drive through Terling ford they are acting “foolishly and recklessly” and “effectively attempting to drive their car through a river.”

Mr Harrison said fire service staff should be able to make an “informed judgement” when emergency calls are dealt with and decide if it is an emergency “or someone in distress.”

He said that both sides of the river in Terling are clearly signed “unsuitable for motor vehicles” yet last Thursday he watched the fire service pull a Peugeot saloon out of the ford.

“This is an all too regular occurrence and it must be stopped,” said Mr Harrison.

He has written to Essex County Fire and Rescue, Brooks Newmark, Braintree MP, and Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex County Council, with his concerns and states that if a fire officer does attend and assesses there is no immediate danger to the motorist, “why cannot the (fire) commander arrange for the car to be extracted from the river by a commercial local vehicle breakdown service?”

Mr Harrison adds: “To avoid favouring any one company a list of suitable commercial companies could be handed to the car driver.”

For the full story see the Witham and Braintree Times.

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Your Say YourTimes

time to fight back, braintree says...
10:51pm Thu 7 Aug 08

with out going to deep into this situation, which if we are all honest is caused buy a motorist who has got his/her self in a self induced situation, how stupid, i know accidents happen, we are only human and all make mistakes, but why drive into a deep ford,even to the point where you subjecting your car to a god soaking, its not good for your brakes,not one main dealer reckomends driving your car into terling ford, how silly, yeh i know its fun,but, you get stuck and expect someone to get you out, ie the fire service, there are pros and cons, they could use it as a training exersize, but also it costs money, they could have a accident on the way and also would not be available for a more needed call,
why should the every day recovery man go into water, who does the risk assessment, does he have a life jacket, i feel each incident should be judged on its own merits or situation, why should my tax money be used to pay for some fool who has drove in a river, is it a emergancy or a situation, is the water deep, or fast, would it endager the every day mechanic/rescue guy, has he been trained, but at the end of the day if some idiot drives into terling ford, why should i fund his of hers mistake, too many folk use our emergancy services for the wrong reasons, dont waste there time if it is not a emergancy, it could be you that needs them and they r sorting something out that u could and should get done the appropriate trades man,

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