Now I know if I tell you someone faces a driving ban for their speeding organ I’ll get immature sniggers from a few of you. But no no, it’s real. I saw it on the news.
This is Paul Bex. He’s from Cambridgeshire, but don’t hold that against him. He’s a driver for the private organ donor company Lifeline. They get a call saying they need a liver urgently on July 7th this year. If he didn’t get it within three hours of the call, the patient would have died. So what do you do in that situation?
Well you get there ASAP. No need to potter around behind some idiot in a Polo who wouldn’t trust their fifth gear, you put your foot down and get there as soon as you can. And that’s what he did. He went 112mph past a couple of those lovely speed cameras everyone loves, and a little while later, got sent a letter saying he could be banned from driving.
The law currently states that anyone going over 100mph on a public road faces a 12-month ban, apart from if they’re exempt, which ambulance drivers are. But the old law hasn’t been updated to include the transportation of human tissue and so he’s facing the full brunt of his actions – just for trying to save some poor person’s life.
There was a similar incident back in 2003 where Mike Ferguson was transporting a liver to Addenbrooke’s too, but he got off the hook thanks to being a paramedic. But poor Mr Bex works for a private firm, so it wouldn’t be a like-for-like case. He has the blue flashing lights, sure, but not much past that and a bit of high-speed driving training.
So what do I think? Well, if that previous one was thrown out because it "wasn’t in the public interest", then so can this one. It shouldn’t matter if he’s a trained paramedic or works solely for the NHS, if it’s going to save someone’s life you do all you can to stop it.
Although to be fair, it shouldn’t matter what else happens afterwards. If I put in a situation if I person would die if I didn’t do something, I would make sure I did that thing no matter what, even if it did mean a 12-month driving ban. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I would be safe in the knowledge I did the right thing.
So choose your options wisely, whoever-it-is-who-does-the-whole-law-thing-here. You can choose head or heart. I know this hasn’t been the most optimistic of blog posts, but it’s a necessary one. It just makes me angry…
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