By Tristian Cork
The Western Daily Press
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, England — Emergency services across the West are preparing for “a significant spike” in everything from domestic violence and street brawls to hospital admissions and even sexually transmitted diseases — all because of the World Cup.
All three 999 services are expecting an increase in emergency incidents over the next month — particularly with England playing their first two matches on weekend evenings.
Extra police response teams have been drafted in and all special constables are being called up to cope with what could be a massive rise in disorder, violence and anti-social behaviour. Police chiefs are also setting up hotlines to lead ers in the West’s ethnic communities, should tensions escalate later on in the tournament.
But the knock-on effects of the football festival in South Africa will also be felt by emergency health professionals, the fire service and even sexual health clinics, the authorities have warned.
Police and health chiefs revealed that after the experience of the last World Cup, they are pulling a broad network together of public bodies that will see a rise in workload during the 2010 tournament.
The most immediate impact is on drunken violence and anti-social behaviour predicted when England play. And with potentially four out of five England games being played on a Friday or Saturday in the next month, police and ambulance services fear a massive increase in drunken violence, injuries and anti-social behaviour.
“At the last World Cup, it was quiet to start with, because England’s first matches were during the day and during the week,” said Supt Nick Ashley, from Wiltshire police.
“But it culminated in England’s defeat to Portugal, which happened on a Saturday evening and led to many instances of violence and disorder,” he added.
This time, with the kick-off times more suited to weekend nights out, police and ambulance — and fire, hospitals and staff in women’s shelters - are expecting some of their busiest nights in years.
“The first two games are at the weekend. When I saw the draw, I thought it was going to be a challenge because after the slow start last time, we’re right in it from the start. Our message is that more than 99 per cent of people want to celebrate the World Cup, but everyone should drink sensibly and respect each other,” added Supt Ashley.
Health chiefs in Gloucestershire have requested that the Great Western Ambulance Service provide mobile treatment units for the centres of Gloucester and Cheltenham, to cope with an expected increase in walking wounded, while the presence of a big screen in the centre of Bristol is anticipated to mean a busy time for ambulance crews.
A special treatment unit is also being set up in Swindon’s town centre when England play.
“Saturday nights and Friday nights tend to be our busiest times anyway, so when you add in that hugely increased numbers of people will be going out to watch England play, we anticipate it being very busy,” said a spokesman for GWAS, which covers Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Maggie Rae, Wiltshire’s director of public health, said shift patterns for everyone from paramedics to A&E staff were being altered to cope with the World Cup.
“The vast majority of people will have a great time, but our experience is that during the World Cup there is a rise in cases of lots of different things, from anti-social behaviour and drink driving to noisy neighbours to sexually transmitted diseases and even a baby boom,” she said.
“A lot of this is down to people not drinking responsibly. We’ve got to really encourage people to drink sensibly. The problems are really mostly associated with people drinking too much - that affects domestic violence, and violence in pubs and in public — petty little arguments that turn into knifings or glassings or punch-ups,” she added.
Copyright 2010 Bristol United Press