On Friday night we joined Edinburgh's Street Assist team on one of the busiest weekends of summer. Pay day weekend with scorching temperatures, just before the Fringe kicks off we knew it was going to be a busy one and we were not disappointed.
Just before 10pm a number of white vehicles with the green Street Assist logo pulled up to Manor Place ready for a night on the town. But not the night on the town most of us have experienced. Every week over 100 volunteers dedicate their free time to keeping the revellers of the capital safe.
READ MORE - Edinburgh man in critical condition after being struck down by black Mercedes
On shift tonight there are around 30 volunteers which are later split into six teams, a mixture of Queen Margaret University paramedic students, those who would like to one day join the police and those who just have an interest in being out helping others.
Tonight I am in the minibus which is an old ambulance that has been renovated for the charity. It's not in the best shape but allows the team to help dozens of people every weekend. Running solely on donations the project relies on any resources they can get.
Our first job comes up just after 11pm on the Cowgate outside Brewdog. A young man has been fighting with the bouncers and is speaking to police who have requested our help to defuse the situation. Within moments of walking over it appears there isn't going to be a chance to defuse the incident as the man takes a turn for the worse, becoming aggressive before being restrained by officers.
He has clearly taken something and within moments is in cuffs on the floor as he spits at police while laughing and swearing. Twenty minutes later their assistance pulls up, the lad is put in the back of the van and we continue our night.
Next we head over to the West End where we see a worrying sight. A young teen laying on the floor with a couple of friends around her. By the time we get over she is lying in her own sick on the cold and rainy pavement - clearly not in a good way.
Marching straight to the scene the team are equipped with sick bags, hair bobbles and bottles of water on hand and immediately snap into action.
A taxi was booked for the girl but when he pulled up he refused to take her and made away with the £20 fare he had been given by one of her friends. In this situation she is taken into the van to warm up, get some water so we can find out where home is. To make sure the girl gets in okay, the Street Assist Team needs a friend to come with her.
This is where we run into problems. One of her so called friends pipes up "what a waste of a night" before refusing to go with her. The others aren't keen either and it is a mission to get her mum on the phone to make sure somebody will be there on the the other end to make sure she is okay.
It's not the sick in her hair, or the bad way she is in that shocks me - most of us have been there. It's the attitude of this 19-year-old's so called friends. What if Street Assist didn't exist? Where would she end up? In a very dangerous and vulnerable situation. I am totally taken aback at this behaviour.
The team then tell me you’d be surprised how many friends leave their friends on a night out, and it's a common occurrence.
There’s a lot to be said for the volunteers in Street Assist. Each one is younger than me, and they are all the same age as the people they are picking up. Instead of going out drinking they’re spending their time out protecting the locals working long hours often from 10pm - 4am in the most patient and professional manner.
It's now hitting peak time, it's half one and we’ve picked up a man in his early thirties that claims he is staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel. He has vomit down his shirt, no phone, no keys, no hotel key card and can barely string a sentence together.
The man is from down south and doesn’t know where his friends are, where he is or why he is here. It's raining and actually quite cold at this point but the team have spent hours talking to him and trying to help him out before we turn up.
Sitting in the van he is totally unresponsive, his head is sunk down into his chest and he is dribbling down himself and covered in sick.
We take him to the hotel where it turns out he actually does have a booking but he hasn’t checked in. After a quick conversation with the bewildered hotel staff, the two males in the team escort him to his room where he immediately perks up and explains he has had a fight with his girlfriend.
Enroute to the next job we notice a man with no shoes on collapsed in the middle of the busy roundabout at London Road and Greenside place. We pull up to find out what's going on.
He explains he can't walk at all. His partner stands nearby holding his shoes, neither are that drunk and have just arrived for a weekend away in the capital.
After having a couple of drinks the Irish man explain that he somehow fell and hurt both his ankles and on the short walk to the hotel ended up laying in the roundabout. When the team tries to help it seems he really can't walk and he gets carried onto the pavement because he’s on the road with cars speeding past.
His hotel is just across the road but due to the injuries we drive him there, before the team use a wheelchair to get him to the door. But it doesn’t end there, the man then needs carried up the stairs to his room where he is staying.
Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
Our night ended around 4am with a trip to A&E, we had picked up a young girl who had possibly been spiked in the club who was wrapped up in a blanket on Frederick Street and really believed she was at home sleeping in bed.
It was surprisingly quiet at the Royal Infirmary for a Friday night but the staff were fantastic. It's the end of the night for me and I am absolutely knackered but the team will do it all again the following night - and every weekend throughout August.
There was nothing like Street Assist when we were younger and going out clubbing with our friends, its really reassuring to know they are out there and a really vital service which takes the pressure off the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland who are already detrimentally under-resourced.
You can find out more about Street Assist and the incredible work they do here.
READ NEXT:
- Heart-stopping Edinburgh clip shows teens attempt to scale Forth Road Bridge
- Plush Edinburgh hotel evacuated after smoke seen 'pouring out' from basement
- ScotRail confirm alcohol ban on trains will continue for 'foreseeable future'
- Edinburgh man missing for hours as police launch urgent appeal to trace him
- Edinburgh property: Inside the coastal cottage cheaper a 1 bed city flat
