Time to take a stand
happening and failed to dispatch a liaison officer.
It was not until the £155,000-ayear Mr O’Reilly arrived at the command room at 11.49pm – 75 minutes after the first 999 call – and personally called an ambulance officer that it was deemed safe to send firemen.
Lord Kerslake said Mr O’Reilly’s failure to base himself at police HQ delayed the response further.
The first firemen finally arrived at the venue just after 12.30am – two hours after the attack.
The average response time to a domestic fire is five minutes and 41 seconds.
Mr O’Reilly cannot face any disciplinary action over his failures after he retired last month on an estimated £100,000a-year pension.
Victim Martin Hibbert, who was taken out on an advertising hoarding and left paralysed, is among those convinced fire chiefs’ incompetence made matters worse.
‘I’m certain if there had been four or five engine-loads of firemen on the scene helping, that
‘Paralysed and out of the loop’
they’d have stuck [victims] over their shoulders or whatever,’ he told the BBC. ‘I’m sure they would have been a great help.’
Speaking at the launch of his report yesterday, Lord Kerslake said it was ‘extraordinary’ that fire bosses had not acted sooner, saying the ‘culture’ of the service meant firemen were less able to use their initiative.
‘The firefighters wanted to go forward but they were not able to,’ he said. ‘The discipline of the fire service meant that they could not self-deploy.’
Horrifically injured victims who waited to be rescued also complained that only three paramedics entered the devastated foyer.
Members of the public had to resort to tearing up T-shirts to use as bandages and tourniquets.
But Lord Kerslake backed the strategy of the first paramedic at the scene to let first aiders try to stem the bleeding.
Based on initial fears there may be a gunman on the loose, coupled with fears of falling shards of glass from the shattered ceiling, he concluded that the approach was ‘appropriate for the circumstances, even though they may have created this perception of unnecessary delay in the minds of others in the foyer’.
The report found that the ambulance commander made a ‘pragmatic’ decision to let rescuers bring out casualties on tables and barriers because training was needed to use the stretchers carried by ambulances.
However, it recommended that major venues should have a store of basic canvas stretchers in case of similar attacks in future.
But Robby Potter, 48, who survived despite being struck in the heart with a piece of shrapnel, told the Daily Mail: ‘There should be specialist teams of paramedics who go into dangerous situations in the same way as the military, so casualties can get help sooner.’
In his report, Lord Kerslake also criticised Greater Manchester Police’s failure to inform the ambulance and fire services that the bombing had been declared an ongoing terrorist incident. Neither was informed until after midnight – long after the warning had been rescinded. However, he added that had this message been properly relayed, paramedics and first aiders would have been evacuated from the arena.
Lord Kerslake also said there had been countless acts of bravery and hailed the ‘extraordinary’ civic response of Manchester in the days that followed. But he added that it was vital that mistakes were learned from, making more than 50 recommendations.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who commissioned the report, said the fire service ‘fell well short’ of the high standards expected and announced a ‘root and branch’ review of the organisation’s culture. Mr O’Reilly’s successor, interim chief fire officer Dawn Docx, apologised ‘unreservedly’ for the failings under his leadership.
WHAT a truly pathetic performance from the minister who’s supposed to be in charge of protecting Britain’s key strategic industries.
After two months of silence, Business Secretary Greg Clark finally intervenes in the GKN takeover battle – but too late to affect the outcome.
True, he extracted some flimsy assurances from hostile bidder Melrose. But with just a day to go before the voting deadline, it’s a pointless gesture.
Nearly all the votes have been cast and Melrose (whose four senior directors stand to make an obscene £285million from the deal) may already have won.
If it has, Mr Clark will go down in history as the minister who stood by while one of Britain’s greatest engineering firms was torn apart by corporate predators.
We have campaigned passionately to save GKN – and not just for sentimental reasons. Yes, it made cannonballs for Waterloo and Spitfires for the Battle of Britain, but it remains at the cutting edge of technology in the crucial defence, aerospace and automotive industries.
If we hadn’t taken up its cause, this shabby deal would have gone through with barely a ripple of protest.
So what can Mr Clark do to make amends for his woeful failings? If the bid does succeed tomorrow, Mr Clark should show some moral courage and veto it on national security grounds. This power has been exercised several times in recent years to protect other defence and aerospace-related companies.
And the law must be changed to deter the vultures who buy huge amounts of stock in companies targeted for takeover, help swing the vote in favour of the deal then cash in with huge profits.
If voting were restricted to those who had held shares for six months or more, this problem could be ameliorated.
The battle for GKN is a test of the Government’s competence, as well as its resolve to defend British industry.
So the cowardly Business Secretary needs to acquire some backbone – and soon.
NO one admires the courage and professionalism of our emergency services more than the Mail. But the chaos and communication failures that ensued after the Manchester bombing are deeply troubling. Fire engines held back for two hours by ‘riskaverse’ chiefs, too few stretchers and paramedics, confusion among police commanders – the response simply wasn’t good enough. After all, with Britain still on terror alert and further attacks likely, lives are at stake here.