Support for Leicestershire paramedic after food stop

Tim Hargraves with colleague Kiri Howard during their shift

A paramedic who was criticised for stopping to get food during a 10-hour shift has said the support from the public has been amazing.

East Midlands Ambulance Service duty operations manager Tim Hargraves, from Loughborough, said he was told "nice you have time to eat", on Saturday.

He tweeted that within five minutes of the exchange he had binned his food and was responding to an emergency.

Many replied to his post with appreciative messages for his role.

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The messages followed his tweet, on Saturday, which said: "When we stopped to pick up food we got comments 'I had to wait for an ambulance nice you have time to eat' after 5 minutes we dropped our food and responded to a cardiac arrest."

One Twitter user called Krissie said: "I'm so sorry that you have to overhear such negativity. You do a great service to us all."

While Chris Bishop said: "Self care so important. You can only continue to do the brilliant job you do on a 'full tank'."

Susan Bexon said on Facebook: "Can you do a 10/12 hour shift with no food or toilet breaks? Be sensible, really!!!!"

While Karen Humphries said: "And the same people who made those snide comments would work such lengthy shifts without a small break?"

He said the support has been "amazing" following his message: "It's really great to see the majority appreciate our role and have an understanding of the pressures we face."

It follows a similar incident in which a Leicestershire police officer was criticised for queuing for hot food during a shift in December.

The officer also received many messages of support with some people replying that they would have paid for the food had they been there.