Thieves target ambulance as man is treated

KEYS were stolen from an ambulance as paramedics treated a man for a neck injury in Dublin's city centre.

Emergency services were forced to call for a back-up vehicle when keys were taken from an ambulance outside Everleigh Garden nightclub on Harcourt Street in Dublin city centre.

Gardai arrested two men at the scene which occurred in the early hours of last Thursday.

An ambulance was called to the area at approximately 4am to treat a man who had suffered a neck injury.

The ambulance had parked outside the nightclub and paramedic-trained firemen had taken the patient into the back of the vehicle for treatment.

At around 4.17 keys were stolen from the vehicle and discarded in the area. The incident was quickly discovered by the paramedics who immediately requested that a second ambulance be sent and they informed the gardai.

"They had to take the patient out and move him into the new ambulance. Gardai were called to the scene where they arrested two young men," said a spokesperson from Dublin Fire Brigade.

The spokesperson said that paramedics commonly leave ambulances running at the scene of an incident in case the vehicle fails to start in an emergency situation.

UNLOCKED

This means that the keys must be left in the vehicle's ignition and the doors are often unlocked.

This precaution has led to the theft of at least two ambulances in the Dublin area, the spokesperson said.

Management at Everleigh Garden said they did not wish to comment on the incident when contacted by the Herald.Culled