There’s no denying World Cup fever has positively swept the nation. England are through the to semi-finals for the first time in almost 30 years, and that is something that should certainly be celebrated.
Unfortunately, some fans celebrated rather too much, causing damage to vehicles and mayhem in the streets after England’s win over Sweden yesterday, July 7.
In central London, an ambulance car was badly damaged after revellers decided it would be a good idea to get on top and jump up and down on it. The ambulance has now had to be taken off the road to be repaired after members of the rowdy crowd took it in turns to climb on top of the vehicle.
The emergency vehicle was parked near London’s Borough Market as a London Ambulance Officer attended a call nearby, reports the Mirror.
The Joint Response Unit responsible for the ambulance, shared their response on Twitter.
They wrote:
Obviously we are chuffed with the result this afternoon but there is absolutely NO excuse to vandalise emergency service vehicles by jumping on them.
This vehicle is now off the road and unable to respond to patients.
We are better than this England.
Obviously we are chuffed with the result this afternoon but there is absolutely NO excuse to vandalise emergency service vehicles by jumping on them..
This vehicle is now off the road and unable to respond to patients.
We are better than this England…. pic.twitter.com/ZvfG50zjkw— Joint Response Unit (@LAS_JRU) July 7, 2018
London Ambulance tweeted:
We’re delighted with the result, but this has put a big dampener on the celebrations for us: while our officer attended a call nearby, this car was damaged in Borough High Street during the celebrations after the game – it’s now off the road to be repaired.
We're delighted with the result, but this has put a big dampener on the celebrations for us: while our officer attended a call nearby, this car was damaged in Borough High Street during the celebrations after the game – it's now off the road to be repaired. pic.twitter.com/V71kOEn4OO
— London Ambulance (@Ldn_Ambulance) July 7, 2018
Photographs from the scene show a huge crowd surrounding the ambulance, encouraging people – including a Gareth Southgate lookalike complete in fitted waistcoat – to climb on top. After some time, police arrived and had to surround the ambulance in order to protect it from further damage.
Roads had to be closed during the event as large crowds swarmed the streets in the hot weather.
Southwark St / Borough High Street (SE1) – Road is blocked due to a large number of pedestrians in the carriageway. pic.twitter.com/HecurTG1mf
— TfL Traffic News (@TfLTrafficNews) July 7, 2018
Ambulances weren’t the only things to be damaged during the celebrations, as fans in Manchester climbed on top of a parked police van.
In Clapham Junction, London, fans were seen climbing on top of parked vehicles and even on top of a double decker bus.
Unfortunately, the dismount left a lot to be desired:
Clapham junction…. spot the guy falling through the bus shelter…??????? pic.twitter.com/GzeCGUG4Ui
— victoria coulson (@vickycoulson) July 7, 2018
Celebrations are all well and good, but these scenes might be taking things too far. We of course hope no one was hurt.
While this World Cup is looking like it’s going to be full of ‘where were you when?’ moments and celebrations, it’d be bittersweet to be the one remembering it for mindless vandalism.
The Metropolitan Police said there have been no arrests over the incident.
In Nottingham, however, a number of people were arrested in the city centre for public order offences, after fans crowded the streets and climbed on bus shelters.
What an experience!! We are through to the semi finals!! #England #Nottingham pic.twitter.com/q7RmivH85b
— Andrew Sheard (@PantherAS90) July 7, 2018
Unfortunately, it was parked cars and bus shelters that took the brunt of it, because England’s motorways were pretty much completely empty.
Take a look for yourself:
Is there a football match on at the moment?
This is what England's motorways look like right now #ENGSWE #worldcup https://t.co/8gV6MggtBM pic.twitter.com/Xl4MLMhSm6
— ITV News (@itvnews) July 7, 2018
By all means celebrate, but let’s not ruin it with mindlessness when it does come home.
As the Ambulance Service quite rightly say, we’re better than that England.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.