At five minutes past midnight, at the start of New Year’s Day, one of our team was on the beach, hoping to see some fireworks.
Whilst walking to Central Car Park, they had seen an ambulance go by, blue lights blaring. When they arrived at the beach, the ambulance was parked up and two paramedics were treating an injured person not far in front of the Marina Café.
Several minutes later, one of the paramedics decided to bring the ambulance onto the beach. Our team thought, “No, no, no – you won’t get off the sand again!” but it was too late – our team member was too far away to get their attention and the ambulance was at the treatment site within a few seconds.
In Camber, most of us have seen numerous vehicles stuck in the soft sand – perhaps several each year – as they try to exit the beach into Central Car Park. Over the years, the newsletter has printed pictures of the Coastal Office truck, the Police pick up, the RNLI lifeguards and even HM Coastguards, stuck in the sand – usually in the same place. It was no surprise, then, that pictures of a stranded ambulance began circulating over social media by the time everyone woke up the next morning.
Most worrying was that an ambulance would be out of circulation on a night like New Years Eve – notoriously a busy time for emergency services, as celebrations can sometimes get out of hand.
On this occasion, SECAMB had to bring a second ambulance to transport the patient to safety and, after removing all vital equipment from the stranded ambulance in case it got washed away, had to provide yet another ambulance for the paramedics to continue their shift that night.
The ambulance was towed off the beach on New Years Day by a local recovery firm – fortunately before the tide came too far in. The ambulance suffered no damage. They were lucky this time – they were two days ahead of a spring tide on 3rd January!
