Man fakes stroke to get free lift to hospital

PARAMEDICS have told how a man posed as a stroke victim to be taken to hospital, only for him to leap up and thank them for the lift.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said the man had wasted valuable time and resources.

Describing the incident on Twitter, they said they responded to a call by a man who claimed to have lost “sensation” in his legs. Fearing he may have a critical circulation problem or suffered a stroke, he was rushed to the unnamed hospital.

But on arrival, he walked out beaming and admitted he was fine and just wanted a free ride to visit a friend.

Members of the public expressed outrage, suggesting that the man should be named and shamed and that the police should have been called. One Twitter user wrote: “That little stunt could ultimately have cost someone a life.”

Shaun Gerrard, an emergency medical technician with NWAS, described the call-out in a message shared by the official NWAS account. He wrote: “A patient rang for an ambulance last night as he had reduced sensation in his legs and mobility was poor. We took him to hospital for him to then get up and walk off on arrival.

“He admitted he faked the whole lot just to get a lift to hospital to see his friend.”

The service has said this is what it has to deal with “day in day out” and that the police had not been involved as there was no law against wasting ambulance time.

Call handlers for the service answer more than 50 calls during their 12-hour shifts, many of which relate to life-threatening cases.

Yesterday, the NWAS urged people to only call 999 in a genuine emergency. The service recently revealed that one caller had dialled 999 to request shopping.

Ged Blezard, NWAS director of operations, said: “Our call centre staff work very hard and play a vital role in the care of our patients.

“There are people alive today because of their actions.”