I knew London threw some pretty wild parties from my summer there, but do they really need an ambulance dedicated to treating the city’s drunks? The “Booze Bus” — or “Vomit Comet” — is a “drunks-only” ambulance that is dispatched during times of heavy drinking, “such as the World Cup, Gay Pride and the festive season,” according to the BBC. That seems like they’re just asking for trouble.
Of course, you could say the supply (of drunk people) is already there, and the good people manning these psuedo-ambulances are just meeting the demand (of driving aforementioned drunkards to the hospital). Or could you make the argument that having this “booze bus” makes people more likely to party hard and get out of control?
Here are some samplings from a random night on the bus:
- “A scantily-clad 21-year-old woman lies motionless with one arm attached to a saline drip. She was found lying unconscious near a West End club …”
- “Another seat is occupied by a 60-year-old man, found outside Holborn Tube station, whose silver hair is matted with a layer of thick, crimson blood.”
- “And there was Sally, a 24-year-old accountant, who was struck by a glass … left a shard embedded in her forehead.”
Umm … ouch. I don’t know what else to say.