March 11, 2010
SOS Luton Bus Launch
Residents and partygoers will get their first glimpse of Luton’s new SOS Bus in action as they visit the town centre on St Patrick’s Day, March 17.
The SOS Bus project is intended to create, in our opinion, one of the best mobile first aid and community vehicles anywhere in the UK.
The bright yellow converted single decker bus, originally donated by Arriva-Shires, will be parked in St. Georges’ Square from 2100 hours to 0330 hours every Friday and Saturday night. It will supply a “place of safety when one is needed” during Luton’s night time economy.
Working alongside the SOS Bus is a matching Vauxhall Vivaro mini bus which will be used to transport vulnerable people back to the SOS Luton Bus from anywhere in the town centre and High Town areas.
The SOS Luton Bus project is resourced entirely by CRB checked, uniformed, highly motivated, fully trained volunteers. So far 70 volunteers have been recruited, and, along with many other skills, East of England Ambulance Service will be training them all to be Community First Responders.
The SOS Luton Bus and SOS mini bus will belong and be run by the charity - the SLP, with the financial support of the SoLUTiOns partnership, Bedfordshire Police, the Criminal Justice Board, Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service, TKAP, East of England Ambulance Service, and local businesses Arriva, Vauxhall Motors, Motorbodies and Tesco.
The SOS Luton Bus will provide an imaginative and effective response to the needs of the people in the town’s pub and club land, and the SOS Bus volunteers will work alongside Lutonsafes’ Pubs and Clubs, Luton CCTV, the Street Pastors and all the emergency services to keep people safe.
The SOS Luton Bus is a partnership project lead by Luton’s Licensing Officer, Police Sergeant Ruth Connelly, Paula Morrison from Luton Borough Council and Carly Stokes from The SLP, who after seeing the positive results by SOS Bus projects in other towns throughout the UK, got together with partners to begin to raise money and support for the bus.
PS Connelly said: “For the last three Christmas periods we have had a great response to a pilot for the SOS Luton Bus, codenamed Operation Conch, which was in St Georges Square. We know the pilot has saved three lives so far so the SOS Luton Bus is going one step further by providing a permanent safe haven on Friday and Saturday nights in the town where vulnerable, injured, intoxicated or lost people can find help in arranging transport home.
“As with Operation Conch, the initiative is also aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour and reducing crime and disorder. Over the last three years while Operation Conch was running we also recorded a reduction in crime by 72 per cent, with violent crime in the town centre down by 64 per cent, resulting in a 42 per cent saving in police time spent at incidents. There were also 30 less ambulance trips to hospital and 17 fewer patients required to be treated at accident and emergency and with the help of the SOS Luton Bus team we want these reductions to continue.”
All the Emergency Services will continue to fully support the SOS Luton Bus, and the charity is actively recruiting more volunteers, and is continually fund raising to keep the project on the road.
Paula Morrison, Community Safety Coordinator from Luton Borough Council, said: “The SOS Luton Bus is a great example of effective partnership working and will make the town centre an even safer place to visit and enjoy a night out.
“The SOS Luton Bus management team would like to thank all the people and organisations who have backed this worthwhile cause so far, but as with all charities, to keep the bus running and to cover some of the costs, the bus and the mini bus will need to generate an income therefore both will be available for hire for community projects in Luton and further afield when not in operational use.”
Anyone who wishes to book the SOS Luton Bus can contact Carly Stokes on 01582 480770, or complete the form on the website www.sosbusluton.org.uk.
On St Patrick’s Day, Wednesday, March 17, the SOS Luton Bus will be officially launched at 2pm in St George’s Square - come along and join in the fun with Babs from the Heart FM Breakfast show cutting the ribbon, Harry the Hatter and some Luton Town Football Club players, carnival dancers, street dance group “Unseen Shadows” and the band “Friday Nights” will be playing, along with stalls from various agencies and a “Mocktail” bar with non alcohol cocktails run by Liquid nightclub.
