Plymouth becomes latest city to equip taxi cabs with military grade emergency bandages

Plymouth has become the latest UK city where taxi cabs will carry life-saving emergency bandages kits designed to stem serious blood loss. This comes after the Oxford based charity RAPAID donated and installed the kits in taxi cabs outside Plymouth railway station this week.

The move, which follows the successful roll out in London, Oxford, Swindon, Exeter and Manchester, will ensure that emergency bandages are available across the community. Taxis that carry the emergency bandage kits display Green RAPAID window stickers allowing the public and the emergency services to wave them down and have immediate access to lifesaving bandages until help arrives.

Charity founder, Alex Chivers, who grew up and went to school in Devon, is determined to distribute the emergency bandage kits to taxi cabs across the entire country.

Alex a former police firearms officer and military veteran said: “With a serious haemorrhage, the grim facts are that you can bleed to death in under five minutes. The faster direct pressure and treatment begins the better the chances of survival. The bandages are designed to be quick and simple to use, they are the same bandages I carried during my career in the military and in the Police, so It made perfect sense to make these bandages available and accessible to the public.”

RAPAID has already installed emergency bandage kits into taxis across the UK and are very proud to have recently reached a milestone of 2000 kits installed in London cabs late last year. Several of the kits donated by RAPAID have already been used to stop the bleed in incidents ranging from knife crime to traffic accidents.

Johnny Mercer, MP for Plymouth and Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs is supportive of the initiative. He said:

“Having served in the British Army on the frontline I fully understand the importance of immediate and effective medical intervention especially when it comes to a serious haemorrhage. There is excellent work being done in Plymouth to tackle knife crime and anti-social behaviour, and to make our roads safer, but effective response is just as important as prevention when it comes to saving lives. RAPAID’s initiative is a practical solution for our communities, and I commend RAPAID for their dedication to enabling everyone in Plymouth to become a potential life saver with these simple but effective kits until help arrives on scene. I’d also like to thank Plymouth’s taxi drivers for getting on board and agreeing to ‘host’ the bags in their cabs.”

RAPAID’S arrival in Plymouth has also been welcomed by the secretary for the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association (PLTA), Martin Leaves, who said:

“We caught wind of the RAPAID initiative not too long ago when the news arose that 2000 of London’s black cabs had been equipped with the emergency bandage kits. The drivers are very proud to be supporting this initiative. Taxis are in and out of key locations across Plymouth day and night, and as taxi drivers, we want to do as much as we can to support and make our community a safer place.”

Any member of the public can flag down a cab displaying a RAPAID sticker and ask for the bag in the event of an emergency, following the simple instructions found inside the kit to apply a bandage and stop the bleed. RAPAID will replace any kits used in an emergency and the charity relies on donations and support from local business and philanthropists as it continues to roll out the initiative in Plymouth and beyond.