999-DASHDRIVERAXED ...FOR GOING TOO FAST!
SACKED: Paramedic Godfrey AMBULANCE driver Godfrey Smith has been fired for driving to a life-or-death 999 emergency too fast.
Godfrey was sacked for breaking the speed limit despite hurrying to a patient struggling to breathe.
The volunteer paramedic did 33mph in a new 20mph zone along a shopping street in
by TAMMY HUGHES Oxford. Officials at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) dismissed the dad-of-three after a bystander complained.
Godfrey, 64, a first responder for 15 years, said yesterday: “I’m gobsmacked.
“If I thought it was dangerous I wouldn’t have done it.
“There was no traffic coming theotherway.Theyshouldhave made sure that the mapping in the sat-nav we are given is up-to-date.”
Godfrey, of Farringdon, Oxon, added: “This is a brutal punishment. There was no thanks for my 15 years of service.
“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing with messages of support.”
His dismissal letter said: “It is feltthatyourstandardofdriving on this occasion fell far below that required of someone driving an SCAS-marked vehicle.”
An SCAS spokesman said first respondersdonothavethesame rights to break road laws as professional ambulance drivers.
Godfrey’s son Matthew, 19, has resigned as a first responder in support of his dad.
InJuneSCASissuedanurgent plea for volunteers after the number dropped from 45 to 28.