Bit of a fright!

[7daysinaweek]

I was driving home from work a couple of evenings ago at around 9pm. I was going down one of the country lanes and pulled up at a set of lights at the junction of a dual carriage way which I cross, it was dark, very foggy and about 6 degrees and due to the thick fog you could not see any real distance. Suddenly someone opened my passenger door and climbed in, it was an old boy obviously in great distress, he was confused, shaking and bloody cold. Poor fella was crying and saying he did not know where he was. 

After a instantaneous dynamic risk assessment I told him to pull to door closed and I had the car behind me honking as I was stationary. As I pulled across the dual carrige way to find somewhere to pull over, I asked where he had come from and he pointed to the direction of coming directly off the dual carriage way. 

I pulled over and asked him name and all he could give was his alleged forename, he didnt know his adress or dob or where he had come from.  I asked him was he hurt in any way and he said no, and any medical conditions, again no! He looked quite well kempt, but christ knows where he had gone through as his jeans and shoes were muddy and wet up to his mid lower legs. The dual carriage way splits two sections of countryside.

I asked him did he have a phone on him and he replied no, he said he was from another county about forty miles from Liverpool with a broad distinctive accent from a scouse accent. I suspected he had some form of dementia. 

So what the hell to do now, he had what I noticed as a big gold ring on and a large watch, I asked him if I could check his wrists for a wrist band, nothing, he said he did not have a wallet on him as he patted himself down, or any form of id. I told him we were off to the police station about 5 minutes away and he settled down a bit. At least he was now off the roads in a warm car.

Got the the cop station to find it looked closed and no access to the public. I decided to park opposite on a grass verge in the hope that a copper might be on the way in ? I was racking my brain and I was thinking the nearest police station was a bit of a drive away. I rang 101 and was on hold for about 30 mins, we passed the time by talking about his alleged job as a trucker in the UK, after being on hold for about 30 minutes I abandoned that and rang 999 directly. After giving all the details and my concerns I was told that they would endeavour to get the next available unit to us asap, I told them to make it a priority as though he was pleasant mannered his attention to stay safe in the vehicle was short at times, and several times I had to encourage him to stay in the vehicle.

After waiting about an hour they turned up with blue lights. They told me that they had just received a call that he was a missing person from a nursing home about two miles from where I picked him up. God knows how he wasn't hit on that dual carriage way.

The coppers thanked me and at least it ended all good.

[team tractor]

The disease no one wants . Poor bloke . 
good on you tho 

[countryman]

Lucky he came to you and you took care of him, my wife works in the care industry and this sort of thing does happen, not often but sometimes people get an overwhelming feeling to go home and they believe that is still there and there mum and dad are there, it must be horrible to get like that but at least you cared enough to get him back to where he came from.

[Dougy]

So sad, that could be any one of us in the near future i just hope if it was me someone like you are around. 

[johnphilip]

8 minutes ago, Dougy said:

So sad, that could be any one of us in the near future i just hope if it was me someone like you are around. 

Well said Dougy , many would have just passed him by .

[London Best]

Many modern cars would not have allowed anyone to climb in as the doors would have been locked automatically..

[7daysinaweek]

Cheers chaps!

10 minutes ago, London Best said:

Many modern cars would not have allowed anyone to climb in as the doors would have been locked automatically..

My car is not modern. It's an old 5 cylinder deisel.

[ditchman]

well done you...

SAORK.........small act of random kindness

[mel b3]

Very well done mate. You played a blinder 👍.

[nobbyathome]

Well done  when my dad that had dementure he  escaped from the old peoples home he went walkabouts for nearly two weeks how he survived we don’t know he was a real mess  you have probably saved his life 

[Old Boggy]

Very well done Philip,

Without a doubt you saved his life.

You are another of the good guys on this forum as this is not your first act of kindness and I’m sure won’t be your last.

OB

[TIGHTCHOKE]

WOW!

Well done for coping admirably in a situation foisted upon yourself.

You did the old boy proud.

Shame the Police Station wasn't open and that it took so long to get him some help.

I think I would have dialled 999 straight away after finding no access at the Station.

Our local Station in Stamford used to have an intercom. I pressed the button one evening requesting access and was told by the other end that the station was closed and he was actually speaking from Lincoln.

[JohnfromUK]

Firstly congratulations on calm handling - and successful outcome for what must have been a very alarming experience.  It got me thinking what I should do if faced with the same type of situation - and also in a slightly worrying way.

• We used to have two 'village bobby' type Police Stations, one a mile and a half south, the other 2 miles north.  Effectively 24 hr service as they lived in the police house.  Both West Mercia area.  I know my father had a slightly similar experience to yours many years ago (confused elderly person lost) and local bobby stepped in.
• They both closed, but then we had local Police Stations in smaller nearby towns, one around 5 miles south (Glos Force), one around 5 miles north (West Mercia).  Both initially 24 hour.
• They both became office hours only - then closed.  Both sold off for housing.  Glos have an 'office hours only' desk in the Council Offices.  Don't think West Mercia have anything local but had a 'Main Police Station' in the larger town, about 10 miles from me.
• I drove past that the other day - and all or part of that building has a "Sale or Let" sign up.  Not now sure if there is any Police presence there?
• The main Police HQ (West Mercia) is about 20 miles away, but not sure you can just drive up and visit?  I think it's inside a 'secured area'.
• The only probable 24 hr stations I can think of are city centre Worcester (West Mercia) or Cheltenham/Gloucester(Glos Force).  Not sure you can just drive up and get help if needed?  I'm guessing neither has parking for a start.

In short, if a similar thing happened to me, I really don't know what I could do other than call 999 and wait for them to come to me - which is rather worrying.

I am aware of a recent 'serious ongoing crime' where 999 was called - and got the response "We will send someone when we have a team free" - Stay inside and lock all doors.  No one ever attended I believe.  It was reported to the Police and Crime Commissioner who 'would look into it'.  As far as I'm aware nothing happened.

[39TDS]

Had a similar experience when pruning apple trees in my orchards, an old boy wandered up wet through and no idea who he was, where he was or where he had come from. Well dressed but inappropriate for in a field miles from anywhere.

Took him to my house and gave him a brew, got him warmed up. Called the police who did turn up within half an hour (that is rapid response in my experience). I felt they were quite rough with him tbh, searching his pockets and talking to him as if he was a drunken tramp. I was quite surprised how they were and not at all respectful of him. I guess they see it all the time and compassion had worn off.

They took him away and that was the last I heard, never did know who he was or from where he had come from.

Well done for looking after him, karma will pay you back

[marsh man]

Most, if not all of us would not know what to do if the same situation arrived , as far as the police stations go for a lot of us oldies we tend to live in the past like seeing the local policeman walking through the village and having a yarn to find out if there was any local minor crime going on , these days are sadly gone forever along with all the village police houses , then you move into town where the main police station was open 24rs a day , now it open during working hours and maned by civilian personal rather than police .

So the best I could hope for was to make that person safe wherever he find me or I find him and then ring 999 and then wait for the outcome .

The gentleman's luck changed for the better when he opened the car door of 7diaw , not everyone would had done the same and he can be highly commended for the action he took .

 

[dainty duck]

Top Man .

[Scully]

Well handled 7diaw. It must have been initially very alarming, but you handled the situation very well indeed from beginning to end. 
Coming from where I do I admit I got into the habit of locking car doors while driving through town during Fair week to prevent groups of travellers just piling into your car if you came to a stop, and demanding you take them onto the hill. It’s a bit of a trail from the hill to the town centre and they’re all idle. 
I recall it happening to a mate one year, and being the timid type, did as he was told. As they jumped out they took all his 8-tracks with them! 😄

[clangerman]

good on you found a old boy wandering about in his pyjamas and dressing gown luckily ambulance come past managed to flag them down to take him 

[islandgun]

Well done fella, reminded me of an episode during the summer, I saw an old neighbor sat on a rock by the side of our single track road, I pulled over to see if he was ok but i noticed he was a bit confused and a bit droopy on the side of his face, took him to the doc's and yes it was a stroke, he had a few days in hospital and is still not quite right. 

[7daysinaweek]

Thank you gents for all your kind words. I don't think I done anything special and I am sure that all of the PW contibutors would have done very much the same.

16 hours ago, ditchman said:

well done you...

SAORK.........small act of random kindness

👍

15 hours ago, mel b3 said:

Very well done mate. You played a blinder 👍.

👍

14 hours ago, nobbyathome said:

Well done  when my dad that had dementure he  escaped from the old peoples home he went walkabouts for nearly two weeks how he survived we don’t know he was a real mess  you have probably saved his life 

That must have been such a difficult time.

8 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

WOW!

Well done for coping admirably in a situation foisted upon yourself.

You did the old boy proud.

Shame the Police Station wasn't open and that it took so long to get him some help.

I think I would have dialled 999 straight away after finding no access at the Station.

Our local Station in Stamford used to have an intercom. I pressed the button one evening requesting access and was told by the other end that the station was closed and he was actually speaking from Lincoln.

Cheers TT

When I got to the station which is on a busy road, the access to the police station is dark and you cannot pull alongside the entrance as it is so slim. From the looks of it you have to pull in, then you would hit the large gate, and for the public would have to reverse out. I did cross my mind about pulling up as close as I could to see if there was an intercom, but then I thought it too risky as he was still confused, wanting to get out of the car at times and it was still dark and super foggy.

I could see that that would come as a suprise when pressing that intercom, it like when you ring Virgin media tech support, they put you through to someone in Delhi.

'Your call is important to us please stay on the line'.  Whilst all hell is breaking loose.

11 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

Very well done Philip,

Without a doubt you saved his life.

You are another of the good guys on this forum as this is not your first act of kindness and I’m sure won’t be your last.

OB

Cheers Chris

7 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

Firstly congratulations on calm handling - and successful outcome for what must have been a very alarming experience.  It got me thinking what I should do if faced with the same type of situation - and also in a slightly worrying way.

• We used to have two 'village bobby' type Police Stations, one a mile and a half south, the other 2 miles north.  Effectively 24 hr service as they lived in the police house.  Both West Mercia area.  I know my father had a slightly similar experience to yours many years ago (confused elderly person lost) and local bobby stepped in.
• They both closed, but then we had local Police Stations in smaller nearby towns, one around 5 miles south (Glos Force), one around 5 miles north (West Mercia).  Both initially 24 hour.
• They both became office hours only - then closed.  Both sold off for housing.  Glos have an 'office hours only' desk in the Council Offices.  Don't think West Mercia have anything local but had a 'Main Police Station' in the larger town, about 10 miles from me.
• I drove past that the other day - and all or part of that building has a "Sale or Let" sign up.  Not now sure if there is any Police presence there?
• The main Police HQ (West Mercia) is about 20 miles away, but not sure you can just drive up and visit?  I think it's inside a 'secured area'.
• The only probable 24 hr stations I can think of are city centre Worcester (West Mercia) or Cheltenham/Gloucester(Glos Force).  Not sure you can just drive up and get help if needed?  I'm guessing neither has parking for a start.

In short, if a similar thing happened to me, I really don't know what I could do other than call 999 and wait for them to come to me - which is rather worrying.

I am aware of a recent 'serious ongoing crime' where 999 was called - and got the response "We will send someone when we have a team free" - Stay inside and lock all doors.  No one ever attended I believe.  It was reported to the Police and Crime Commissioner who 'would look into it'.  As far as I'm aware nothing happened.

Hi John

Sadly, as we can see from your post and TT's, that this appears to be reflected all across the country, reduced access to the public from which were once satellite police stations across many villages and counties.

I probably should have just rang 999, the good news was he did not exhibit any form of agression, he was not agitated, and did not appear to be acutely unwell. I am fortunate to an extent in which I am well versed in dynamically assessing for acute mental and physiological deterioration with patients presenting with unknown acute illness or injury, it may have helped me a very small amount at the time, but it is certainly not required.

It does not take a great deal for anyone of us to see that someone may be vulnerable, or having some form of difficulty from the lay person perspective, and on reflection, that is what matters when encountering this situation as such as I did. I would not worry at all John, and I am sure that you and the rest of our PW posters would have dealt with same situation without difficulty. I think we all make some form of dynamic risk assesssent of a unexpected concerning situation, It could be calm control, fight  or flight such as the 'runaway, runaway' like the Monty Python sketch from the Holy Grail 

6 hours ago, 39TDS said:

Had a similar experience when pruning apple trees in my orchards, an old boy wandered up wet through and no idea who he was, where he was or where he had come from. Well dressed but inappropriate for in a field miles from anywhere.

Took him to my house and gave him a brew, got him warmed up. Called the police who did turn up within half an hour (that is rapid response in my experience). I felt they were quite rough with him tbh, searching his pockets and talking to him as if he was a drunken tramp. I was quite surprised how they were and not at all respectful of him. I guess they see it all the time and compassion had worn off.

They took him away and that was the last I heard, never did know who he was or from where he had come from.

Well done for looking after him, karma will pay you back

That must have been a surprise.

Good man TDS, at least you looked out for him, may I doff my cap to you sir!

Hopefully in Bitcoin 

4 hours ago, marsh man said:

Most, if not all of us would not know what to do if the same situation arrived , as far as the police stations go for a lot of us oldies we tend to live in the past like seeing the local policeman walking through the village and having a yarn to find out if there was any local minor crime going on , these days are sadly gone forever along with all the village police houses , then you move into town where the main police station was open 24rs a day , now it open during working hours and maned by civilian personal rather than police .

So the best I could hope for was to make that person safe wherever he find me or I find him and then ring 999 and then wait for the outcome .

The gentleman's luck changed for the better when he opened the car door of 7diaw , not everyone would had done the same and he can be highly commended for the action he took .

 

That is all that you would morally be required to do MM, nothing more. 👍

1 hour ago, dainty duck said:

Top Man .

👍

30 minutes ago, Scully said:

Well handled 7diaw. It must have been initially very alarming, but you handled the situation very well indeed from beginning to end. 
Coming from where I do I admit I got into the habit of locking car doors while driving through town during Fair week to prevent groups of travellers just piling into your car if you came to a stop, and demanding you take them onto the hill. It’s a bit of a trail from the hill to the town centre and they’re all idle. 
I recall it happening to a mate one year, and being the timid type, did as he was told. As they jumped out they took all his 8-tracks with them! 😄

Cheers Scully

How many do you fit in. 

Bloody scoundrels, that is why I keep my Barry Manilow cd's handy for.  

I 'should',  being the operative word, lock my doors as you never know what can happen, especially where I work in the most deprived area of Liverpool. I do love my city and most of the people within it, however, it can certainly be both surprising, curiously interesting at some of the things that I see on the way home. 

1 minute ago, islandgun said:

Well done fella, reminded me of an episode during the summer, I saw an old neighbor sat on a rock by the side of our single track road, I pulled over to see if he was ok but i noticed he was a bit confused and a bit droopy on the side of his face, took him to the doc's and yes it was a stroke, he had a few days in hospital and is still not quite right. 

Bloody hell!

Well done you, despite you saying he is still much not greatly improved, you most certainly got him seen and treated.

Good man Island Gun 👍

[bottletopbill]

Well done mate.

Shows how stretched the police and ambulance service are.

Lets hope some of this Government taxes find there way to  these services.  🤣

[old man]

From personal experience I can say that after unsuccessfully administering the required chest thumps and pumps it's a bit of a brown trouser ride waiting to be summoned by the coroner as a witness as a few cracked ribs were found at the PM.

All OK though.

 

[Mice!]

Crikey mate, I thought you were going to say you got filled in at first 😳😳 thought your doors would be padlocked from the inside 😉

The old boy couldn't have picked a better car to get in, but like you say he was incredibly lucky to not have been hit by a car.

[KPV4]

A good deed well done…👍 and someone’s loved one back in the care home safe and sound, many these days would have left him on the side of the road..!

[Penelope]

On 16/11/2024 at 20:43, 7daysinaweek said:

I was driving home from work a couple of evenings ago at around 9pm. I was going down one of the country lanes and pulled up at a set of lights at the junction of a dual carriage way which I cross, it was dark, very foggy and about 6 degrees and due to the thick fog you could not see any real distance. Suddenly someone opened my passenger door and climbed in, it was an old boy obviously in great distress, he was confused, shaking and bloody cold. Poor fella was crying and saying he did not know where he was. 

After a instantaneous dynamic risk assessment I told him to pull to door closed and I had the car behind me honking as I was stationary. As I pulled across the dual carrige way to find somewhere to pull over, I asked where he had come from and he pointed to the direction of coming directly off the dual carriage way. 

I pulled over and asked him name and all he could give was his alleged forename, he didnt know his adress or dob or where he had come from.  I asked him was he hurt in any way and he said no, and any medical conditions, again no! He looked quite well kempt, but christ knows where he had gone through as his jeans and shoes were muddy and wet up to his mid lower legs. The dual carriage way splits two sections of countryside.

I asked him did he have a phone on him and he replied no, he said he was from another county about forty miles from Liverpool with a broad distinctive accent from a scouse accent. I suspected he had some form of dementia. 

So what the hell to do now, he had what I noticed as a big gold ring on and a large watch, I asked him if I could check his wrists for a wrist band, nothing, he said he did not have a wallet on him as he patted himself down, or any form of id. I told him we were off to the police station about 5 minutes away and he settled down a bit. At least he was now off the roads in a warm car.

Got the the cop station to find it looked closed and no access to the public. I decided to park opposite on a grass verge in the hope that a copper might be on the way in ? I was racking my brain and I was thinking the nearest police station was a bit of a drive away. I rang 101 and was on hold for about 30 mins, we passed the time by talking about his alleged job as a trucker in the UK, after being on hold for about 30 minutes I abandoned that and rang 999 directly. After giving all the details and my concerns I was told that they would endeavour to get the next available unit to us asap, I told them to make it a priority as though he was pleasant mannered his attention to stay safe in the vehicle was short at times, and several times I had to encourage him to stay in the vehicle.

After waiting about an hour they turned up with blue lights. They told me that they had just received a call that he was a missing person from a nursing home about two miles from where I picked him up. God knows how he wasn't hit on that dual carriage way.

The coppers thanked me and at least it ended all good.

Well done to you, sir!