Policeman jumps on bus to attend 999 call

A police officer used a public bus to get to a 999 call after a child was hit by car outside a holiday park.

Emergency services were called to the scene at Barry Downs Holiday Park near Carnoustie, in Angus, Scotland, after reports a six-year-old boy had been knocked over by a car.

Police from Carnoustie and Balunefield in Dundee headed to the scene in police cars, but one officer from Monifieth got there on a bus, which took him nine minutes.

Speaking to the Evening Telegraph, a police source said: "There has been a reduction of the fleet - two reductions in the last 18 months Scotland-wide, and Tayside has lost a number of marked and unmarked cars.

"Money is tight right now."

Carnoustie councillor Bill Bowles said: ""It seems extremely bizarre that someone going to a 999 call has to respond on public transport.

"The officer seems to have been very lucky that a bus was passing at the time and didn't have to wait 20 minutes. I am going to speak to the area commander to find out what he has to say about it."

According to the Daily Record, Angus deputy commander, Inspector Ally Robertson, of Police Scotland, said the force do have enough vehicles to operate properly.

He added: "The boy was taken to hospital with a damaged ankle. He had been running for the bus and hit a car but, thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured."

Speaking to the Evening Telegraph, he added: "A local officer attended from Carnoustie and road policing came from Baluniefield.

"It would appear our community officer in Monifieth used public transport to go there.

"The Carnoustie response took just four minutes, Baluniefield 11 minutes and the officer from Monifieth took nine minutes on the public transport.

"We thoroughly encourage officers to use public transport if available and we like our community officers to be out and walking.

"We have sufficient numbers of officers and sufficient numbers of cars."

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