Reality of 'Mad Friday' antics revealed in 999 calls staff 'tweetathon'

The chaotic reality of 'Mad Friday' revelry was revealed during a real-time online event.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff taking 999 calls.Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff taking 999 calls.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff taking 999 calls.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) hosted a 24-hour 'tweetathon' from its emergency operations centre to give the public a glimpse of what it handles during the hectic Christmas season.

From 9am on Friday, the service tweeted about the different 999 calls it received through the course of the evening and early hours - one of the festive period's busiest for ambulance staff.

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One tweet reads: "Female unconscious through drinking in York city centre. Know your limits. #madfriday #YASEOC #YAS247."

Another says: "It's 6 o'clock and we've already dealt with 558 emergencies #madfriday #YASEOC #YAS247."

The tweetathon was also a chance to highlight that the service should be used for genuine emergencies only.

For example, one reads: "Someone's got a bunion on their foot in Doncaster, called 999, we won't be sending a ambulance to this one. #inappropriate #YASEOC #YAS247."

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Staff at the centre on Brindley Way, Wakefield, even helped women in labour: "That's the 2nd baby delivered tonight, a healthy gorgeous girl. Good work emergency call taker Joe #YASEOC YAS247."

The online event followed a successful tweetathon carried out by YAS last August.

Executive director of operations Dr David Macklin said: “Opening up our emergency operations centre through Twitter is a great way of giving everyone an insight into what happens when you call 999.

"Our staff deal with a huge variety of calls, as we showed in our last tweetathon where in the space of 24 hours we tweeted about everything from assisting the delivery of a baby over the phone to sending support to road traffic collisions.

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“We will always respond to people with serious or life-threatening illnesses or injuries that need time-critical medical assistance."

To learn more about the calls staff took, visit the YAS Twitter page at www.twitter.com/YorksAmbulance, or use the hashtag #YAS247. The tweetathon finished at 9am on Saturday, December 19.