Overview

• Last summer in Rotherhithe, Seiitbek Erkin Uulu smashed an ambulance windscreen, jumped on the bonnet and hurled bricks at EMTs Harvey Jenkins and Tom Pursey as they tried to escape.
• Uulu pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly and received 150 hours of community service, a £114 fine and a four-month alcohol ban.
• Chief Paramedic Pauline Cranmer and AACE chair Jason Killens called the community-based sentence disproportionately low given the attack’s sustained violence and impact on crew wellbeing.
• AACE data shows assaults, aggression and abuse towards ambulance staff have risen steadily over four years and jumped by 11.3% to 2,337 incidents in 2024.
• The service has installed interior and exterior cameras, panic buttons and electronic trackers and launched the UK’s first Violence Reduction Unit to safeguard crews.