Hundreds of London black cabs to carry military grade bandages used by Armed Forces
Hundreds of iconic London black cabs will carry military grade emergency bandages to stem serious blood loss in the first vital minutes following an accident or major incident.
Participating cabs will display green window stickers allowing the public and the emergency services to easily identify them.
The emergency pressure bar bandages distributed by charity, Rapaid, are carried by the Armed Forces of Britain and America.
They were designed originally for battlefield use and can apply up to 40lbs of direct pressure onto a serious bleed injury.
Rapaid is helping support Government proposals to improve the safety of public spaces following terror attacks and the rise in knife crime which is particularly acute in London.
The initiative was the idea of Alex Chivers a former Special Forces soldier.
"With a serious haemorrhage you can bleed to death in under five minutes - time literally does save lives," said Alex Chivers.
"I knew that a solution had to be accessible and simple for the untrained public to use.
"It made perfect sense for taxi cabs to carry the same pressure bar bandages designed for the battlefield - these bandages are routinely carried by the military and emergency services, designed to apply direct pressure to an injury stemming blood loss in those first golden minutes until help arrives," Alex explained.
The initial rollout of emergency bandages in London, follows on from successful trials across the UK including Manchester, Oxford, Swindon, and Exeter, with hundreds of taxi cabs now carrying the bandage kits.
The London rollout has been supported by Transport for London and Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.
He said: "We are delighted to be supporting this fantastic initiative with the potential to save lives.
"Black cabs are a staple on London’s streets and so are ideally placed to carry these bandages, with participating taxis able to be quickly flagged down in an emergency or drivers to pull over and help if they come across a serious incident or life-threatening situation.
"We know that cabbies often stop to assist people in distress and help keep Londoners safe when the worst happens, now they will be better equipped to do so."
Helping to distribute the Rapaid emergency bandage kits to taxi drivers was a patron of the charity, Travis. D. Frain, who was injured in the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack in 2017 suffering serious injuries.
"You cannot underestimate just how significant the deployment of these emergency bandage kits is and how much of a difference they will undoubtedly make," Travis said.
"I would hope that these kits are never needed, but the reality is that if used the bandages will save lives, not just by those effected by terrorism, but also a whole range of other incidents," he added.
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