Ambulance chief ‘ hero’ tried to get out of bomb shift
Said he had holiday after Manchester blast
THE ‘gold commander’ for the ambulance service on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing remained at home for an hour after being informed of the attack, he told the public inquiry into the atrocity yesterday.
Then shortly before a 4am meeting with police and fire chiefs to co- ordinate the response, he asked for the task to be passed to a colleague as he was flying out on holiday later that day.
Neil Barnes, 57, who was a deputy director at North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), was subsequently awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal for ‘providing leadership, joint emergency services working skills and support at a strategic level’ following the deadly blast.
But under questioning yesterday, he agreed that he provided ‘no leadership’ after suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated his shrapnelpacked bomb – killing 22 bystanders.
However, he denied his decision to wait for an hour before leaving was influenced by the fact he was due to go on holiday a few hours later.
His evidence comes as inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders is expected to be critical of the security arrangements at the Ariana Grande concert targeted by Abedi on May 22, 2017, when the first of three reports is published on Thursday. Mr Barnes was the on-call gold commander responsible for ‘command, response and recovery’ in the event of a major incident.
But he chose to stay at home and await more information after taking the first call about an ‘incident’ at the arena at 10.40pm, the inquiry heard. Mr Barnes said it was agreed that NWAS ‘silver commander’ Annemarie Rooney would attend a tactical coordinating group being established at police headquarters to deal with what was being treated as a ‘suspected bombing attack’.
Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, suggested Mr Barnes had been ‘reactive’ rather than ‘proactive’. Mr Barnes agreed he had not called the service’s emergency operations centre or listened to radio traffic to find out what was going on.
‘Just sitting at home, waiting for information... does not seem like leadership – let alone strategic leadership,’ Mr Greaney suggested.
Mr Barnes replied: ‘ I don’t get involved as a strategic commander.’ Mr Greaney asked: ‘Did the fact you had a flight to catch the next day at midday make any part in your decision to stay at home?’ The ambulance chief replied: ‘None whatsoever.’
He finally left his home at 11.40pm after being told he needed to attend a strategic command group at police headquarters. Mr Barnes said the journey ‘possibly’ took him longer that it needed to because of his decision to not deploy his vehicle’s siren and emergency lights.
He finally arrived at 12.30am – 50 minutes after the last survivor had been evacuated from the blasted foyer. When he was asked if he accepted providing no leadership in the first two hours after the attack, Mr Barnes answered: ‘I agree sir.’
Before the group met to co- ordinate the emergency services’ response, Mr Barnes requested to be relieved by another commander so he could catch his flight. A colleague was sent to the building, where Mr Barnes said he gave him a handover briefing that lasted between six and eight minutes.
The hearing continues.
‘Does not seem like leadership’