Worksop: Paramedic ‘disheartened’ after cruel thieves steal emergency lights from his car

Jason Buckle was carrying out extra duties on Friday night when he stopped outside his home on Park Street to get something to eat.

However when the hazardous area response paramedic returned to carry on with the rest of his shift, the ‘light bar’ had been swiped from the roof of the car.

“It is a bit disheartening for a staff member who wants to go that extra mile to deliver that care and somebody just takes them,” Jason told the Guardian.

“It meant that I had to go off duty and could no longer work that night.

“It is at a cost of £500 to £600 to myself, but the lights are worthless to anybody else because they are controlled by the panel in the car.”

Jason started out as an ambulance technician and worked his way up the ranks, including taking up a role as a community paramedic.

He regularly responds from home and goes out with the response crews to attend incidents such as road traffic accidents.

Jason told the Guardian that it had been a ‘fairly quiet’ night and that nothing like this had ever happened to him before.

“I am now doing my normal shifts but I now can’t give any extra support,” he said.

“It has happened to other members but not to me.”

A spokesman from East Midlands Ambulance Service said: “As well as working as a paramedic with our hazardous area response team (HART) Jason volunteers in his own time to respond to emergencies in his local community. Whoever did this is putting lives at risk as the vehicle cannot be used until a replacement unit is fitted. The crime has been reported to Notts Police and we would urge anyone with any information about the incident to contact them.”

Notts Police told the Guardian that the incident occurred between 9.30-10pm.

A police spokesman said: “The light bar is quite significant in size so someone may have seen someone walking away with it.”

Contact Notts Police on the 101 non-emergency number and quote incident number 892 of August 20.