London Fire Brigade - Paddington's Forward Command Unit on a shout

[m20newell]

Excellent driving if wasn't for the fact that a command unit isn't going to save lives on its own. No need to drive like a moron around Trafalger Sq.

[peterjohncowe]

It feels like the driver's in the racing car. lol Great Driving!

[mortgagewizard40]

LOL sat nav in those days,,never heard of lol,,a good old fashioned A-Z ,,,

[darrencred]

charing cross?!! lol

[darrencred]

the sat nav had a day off??!

[atjgolder]

In fact he missed two shorter routes; first Piccadilly, up past the Ritz into Piccadilly Circus when down Haymarket into Trafalgar Square onto The Strand. or second having missed that He could have gone up Constitution Hill to The Mall. So again; TWAT!!!

[rouge06]

@atjgolder how is he a twat this was in the 90s it was different

[Iluvcarsforever02]

@atjgolder Don't know if you've heard of this thing called TRAFFIC? All emergency services are kept up to date with the traffic so as to make a decision of which route to take, also they do this in a very short space of time in only 7 minutes. The other areas you talk about could have had congestion, think about things like that before making a comment. Also would like to see you try and attempt getting through London during traffic! Plus I think they had balls doing all that in a Range Rover!

[atjgolder]

Of course they would have got there quicker had the driver not taken the wrong and long way round! He didn't need to go any where near Buckingham Palace and the Mall; TWAT!!!!

[Scratchen2]

Now that's reckless driving... it's not excellent driving! When responding on a call it's all about getting there fast but SAFE, NOT putting other peoples lifes at risk!

[EnjoyFirefighting]

@Scratchen2 they are trained to drive like this, they drive in this kind of traffic every day, it's not like on Gotland :)

You know with our trucks we have an average response speed of 60 km/h in the city...

[Scratchen2]

@EnjoyFirefighting I know they're trained to drive fast, we all are. But the rest of the public is NOT, that's what makes this kind of driving dangerous..

[Newswhenyouneedit]

damn, squezzeing in tight spaces, i wish my american truck could do that!

[CorpralDunn]

Wow. I have to agree with the top comment, the responding/driving is indeed excellent.

[vangelis1420]

@CorpralDunn

FCU about as useful as a station commander at a job!

[vangelis1420]

@vangelis1420

Yes that was 7 odd mins..its been taken care of by then!!

[gazzamurie]

If the emergency services drove like that today... They would most probably get in trouble for dangerous driving!

[EnjoyFirefighting]

@gazzamurie you know in some places they stilll drive as fast through the city, but still driving safe

[colinbucci]

Nice driving i love the eastern trucks so small and nimble but the west trucks are huge

[MegaBushido2]

cool I'm in Germany in a firebrigade and we did not go as kreutz and across the city

[23aztek]

Now this was some nice driving! :)

[TheBAGGEN]

After seeing this, every other blue light video seem so slooooww...

[onionpoo]

Also some walter mittu commented on here earlier about the tires screeching, well they have obviously not driven the old style range rover in that scenario have they?

[onionpoo]

Todays drivers are wet behind the ears cause of elf and waiftey. Thats how its done, im sure the driver had development points but this was filmed in a time where people took more accectable training and skills based risks rather than the idiotic nanny state we have now that says firemen cant go down the good old pole and have too go down stairs . The dickhead who justified that change needs a kick in.

[SM326ACK]

its only a command support unit..its not going to save lives,put out fires ..why the manic rush to get there? Good viewing though!

[Nikon05]

awesome

[mortgagewizard40]

i will comment each time i watch this video, there are too many comments on here form the "new breed" of emergency vehicle drivers, who seem more interested in tickbox mentality and Elf and safety...Stop whining,,drive your emergency vehicle like that guy did and think about the person who has called you,,ok the blue lights dont give you ant exemptions, but all the actions in this video could be justified...wonder where those guys are now,,,,

[rogertrucker]

@mortgagewizard40 Well said, if I was waiting for an emergency response, I sure hope the guy is not picking his nose and ticking all the "safety" boxes... Well done!

Cheers,

RT

[Smithyards]

@NeoJD Its the UK, we drive on the left, not the right....

[waterladder]

Very aggressive, and intimidating.

Tyre squeel loads of times,. This is only an incident command vehicle, not a frontline appliance. No need for such risk.

EFAD refresher needed .

[onionpoo]

Sweet

[TheYoshimitsu1126]

Nice Drive :)

[mortgagewizard40]

he could have put his tools in a box,,,,

[mortgagewizard40]

7 1/2 minutes from paddington to charing cross,,thats good by any standards,,even with blue lights.

[999lifeboat]

MMMMM bit scary

[mrmagicroundcircle]

geezer riding shotgun alters siren and waves at the old bill

[mortgagewizard40]

wonder how long that journey, on exactly the same route and method of driving,and the same vehicle would take to do now,.in fact ,out of curiosity it would be good to find those 2 blokes again to see if they would do a re run.almost 20 years later.

[DDCBJPM]

If my house was on fire I would want him driving!!!!!

[mortgagewizard40]

Excellent driving - hes under blues and twos - hes going to an emergency - not out for a jolly- every other motorist on the road in his path arent doing anything important . So yeah good driving - not once did he put anyones life in danger and nice comment"caused a bit of chaos didnt it".

[BicycleFanatic89]

Amazing ! I can watch this video over 200 times and always I will be delighted. Fantastic drive through hard streets. Great !

[Stubbsy1235]

HAHAHA Driving as if it was persons reported and then as soon as they arrive on scene the stop message went in lol have to drive all the way back now lolololol

[skazhiprivet]

Ppl don´t really do much to get out of the way...

[wedge41388]

just add a few explosions....and you have a james bond style chase scene

[ZXC5000]

why go all the way round Buckingham Palace? would have been quicker to turn left and pass the palace on your right, then up the mall

[diedododie1]

that was a complete lesson in what not to do. Vehicles and pedestrians scuttled by this red mist tool who clearly has a lead foot and lead in his brain.  What a catalog of mistakes that brings the service into disrepute.

Not acknowledging drivers who yield, not preferring the far right side to pass; driving up the ass of vans who have limited visibility; making massive assumptions about pedestrian behaviour; aiming at motorcyclists the list goes on and on. He shouldn't get keys for years.

[libertycpi]

Incredible driving, never seen anything like it in my life! Defo in the right job!

[smithylvs]

have been on many blue light runs but not like this , units were already in attendance ,not worth killing a pedestrian , we stop at red lights and check then go through , the trafalgar bit was a bit crazy lol

[sky2lift]

THIS GUY IS CRAZYYYYY EXCELENT DRIVING. TOP

[ctube1972]

wicked



[LindaJ21]

Excellent driving! He did what he had to do! You wouldn't be slagging him off if it was YOUR bloody house on fire! Linda

[LindaJ21]

Excellent driving! You wouldn't be slagging him off if it was YOUR bloody house on fire! Linda

[medic382]

Absolute madness is the only way I can describe it. He does not give the traffic any time to move out of his way. If he had, he probably would have got there quicker. I used to work that area, and his driving was inappropriate, and it should have got him sacked or sent back to re-qualify.

[rochford1000]

Personally I thought the bloke was a bloody maniac.

The police think we're mindreaders and know where they're going!

[medic1624]

@Dogswotsits totally agree with you

[frontline88888888]

I was watching this thinking how is he getting a comand unit through those tight squezes but then saw the description and it ws a land rover !!

[EnjoyFirefighting]

outstanding and fast driving! Very nice also at the end in oncoming traffic; not like in the US where they would have kept their lane, press the horn and wait until the other cars move

[doddy1973]

Some of the worst dangerous driving shown here, best way to describe this video is how not to drive on an emergency, the driver was obviously experiencing "Red Mist".

[tavalli]

Excellent video.

[Scousefire]

In my opinion, really no need to be driving in such a manner in rush hour traffic to an AFA shout which they attended like clockwork. This vehicle would have been used for command & control purposes - not frontline firefighting or rescue. If some poor bugger would have stepped out in between vehicles the driver would have no time to react at them speeds.

Driving in this manner to a persons reported is perhaps justified, but to an AFA? No chance....

[colinloc]

At 3.44 does the 'passenger' say 's*** it's Charing Cross innit - where you going then?', (that's just after the A24 appliances start booking in attendance) thus supporting my idea that they were following the Round London Sightseeing Tour! He then gets to work on the siren to speed them up. Great stuff' though.

[colinloc]

@colinloc Yes. On watching again at 4mins (when thy should have turned left off Parl Lane) they discuss whether it was Charing Cross or Victoria! and they were now heading for the wrong station!

[U5096]

that was a fantastic piece of footage, one of my favourites on youtube. That V8 sounded immense! I work at Paddington police station, was good to catch a glimpse of it and Edgware road. Hasn't changed at all

[bebajoro77]

I agree, too agressive at times and Trafalgar Square was downright dangerous.

Training is somewhat different these days! Still, the old roly-poly Rangie doesn't hang about, does it?

[colinloc]

I can't believe that was the quickest route? Looked like he was going to Victoria. These units didn't last long and I wonder what the idea was? Pushing against traffic one the wrong side at T. Square was not good. Too dangerous. Stop sent as they pulled up! The A24 crew would have had time for a good look round and a cornish pasty (well maybe not in them days!) before they arrived. Didn't wave at all the coppers. Forced over traffic? landrover exiting the Mall ...

[ThePagodaTroop]

Never Seen driving like that in my life !! You wouldnt get away with driving like a maniac nowadays !! Just no need ..Far too excessive,

[lukey123MW]

Brilliant driving!

[angryjournalist]

I just got car sick in my house!

[Gingang7]

I agree with LafyaBolloxsov, i am a firefighter with efad experience of driving in city centres. Some of the speeds he was doing was dangerous, we all know people walk out in front of cars in traffic, if they were to get hit at that speed then they stand no chance. Luckily i don't think that firefighters drive like that anymore due to the high standard of training we recieve.

[vingebil]

wow, great driving!!

[EnjoyFirefighting]

great driving and engine sound!!

5*****

[s1914]

Totally agree. This guy seems far too wound up to drive fast yet safely. I think his modern day colleagues are probably much better trained.

[Td5forever]

Just love that V8 Sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[louiseme]

@LafyaBolloxsov . Let's just hope YOUR home never catches fire then !! ??

[Bugginton1]

An amazing bit of driving there - the driver must get so frustrated in all that traffic!

[teammoont]

How do you teach someone to drive like that? I think it's the anticipation of other drivers' reactions that's the most impressive. Some of the gaps he gets that thing through are amazing.

[train672]

I think you develop a 'sixth sense' about what other drivers will do when driving in 'emergency' . You don't just concentrate on your own driving but watch all the others and predict what they might do - all comes with experience and good training !

[YelpBullhorn]

Absolutely incredible bit of driving. I tried it while working as a van courier and making a delivery to Fleet Street. I knocked a moped rider clean off! I couldn't have been screaming 'WooWooWoo' loud enough!

What I like about this vid is the way the passenger (officer) waves at all the coppers he sees. Was that all you had to do in the '80s to justify driving like a complete loony?

[grahameglen]

All that way and just they get there the stop message is sent!

[1CobraRAWR]

@grahameglen Yeah know how irritating that is mate, been work my my dad, got sent from bethnal green to wennington jus as we got there, stop message was sent!

[vesski]

good vid see this on here a couple years ago then it dissapeared great to see it back. this driver has great skill but would they really get away with driveing the wrong way down a one way street now?. thanx for posting it again.

[AdamRiewer]

Nice acceleration on the Range Rover, driver also has skills. Nothing in comparison with a Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Tahoe, though.

[SECAmbCFR]

OK Just for you I have posted a HFD ride in said vehicle ;-)

See "HFD Chief responds to MVA" video.

[joelwhitaker]

@AdamRiewer what!? these are much lighter and faster than those tanks

[InvasorEspacial007]

@AdamRiewer

a chevy? You must be jokin.....

[86501freightliner]

@AdamRiewer Why would we need an oversized american car in the UK....?

[Firefighternorway]

Wow, this was quite a ride, though I'd have held my breath if I was in it. Interesting way of driving...

[akillin09]

what was all that about 3years driving for the lfb wish i was there

[richardthestag]

Awesome! This makes Rendezvous look like Postman Pat on his rounds.

[policeblue999]

Nice to see this one making a return, many many thanks for posting.

[dockertrigger]

Fantastic video!, Love the sound of the V8 and some pretty hairy driving around Trafalgar Square!, Thanks for uploading!

[mlps93]

I'd prefer Range Rover anyday over those put-put American SUV's.

[Hotelkabouter]

I love Range Rovers and dont even want to think what the fuelguage was doing!

At least I am not the only one who forgets where he's going, nice tour of the palace.

Pretty hairy on T-square/Strand. Is there only 1 command vehicle for the city? He had to drive so far.

Pleased our roads are less complicated.

[00Chiggs00]

To aggresive, Tyre howl on many occasions and avoidable. Bet his EFAd instructor cringed at this. Our instructor used to drill it into us "Give then time to respond to the Blues and 2`s" Make it fluent and let it flow.

[traineespark]

@00Chiggs00 true.... but this was back in the early 90's though!

[00Chiggs00]

@traineespark Give you that chief..oh how things have changed eh. elf and safety and all that. I remember doing my final assement with Durham Constabulary Instructor and driving in the country off telegraph poles. Every 2 mins "OK now make progress"  I thought I was flying then the instructor gave us a demo and he was so cool and calm. I always remember his hands were so slow and fluent on the wheel. We did our final in a 827 rover. Got my cert to drive and didnt get a shout for 3 days.

[ImRatherTall]

@00Chiggs00

but it is an old vid, the Range Rover didnt have the safety equipment like ESP, ABS etc like they do now.

[plecmen]

@00Chiggs00 yeah but tyre screch sounds good though :D though though driving is rather agressive

[garyuk17]

@00Chiggs00 Shut up you'd be bloody moaning if they were going to slow!!!!!!

[JimmySpangle]

Some outstanding driving skills there but also a lot of mistakes. Too fast past the vans 1:08 for example. Hit a pedestrian with that range rover and it will make a big dent in them! I agree with Constitution Hill but the driver thought it was Victoria he was going to for some reason. Could have swung back around the wellington Memorial, but did ok. I totally dislike the way they dealt with Trafalgar Sq/Strand. That was really unnecessary as it is a huge tourist area - huge risk taken.

[WatchRyder]

Yeah but to get to the site It would of taken them a lot longer by going around the outside...

[Firecarl]

@JimmySpangle you are clearly not a good fireman. it was awesome. Great drinving skills decrease the risk. Don't project your failures on other fireman that are good at there job.

[pastaman69]

LOL 3:42 - "Oh s#it, it's Charing Cross, innit'?..."

Yes, he really should have turned left along Constitution Hill, but at least he realised his mistake!

Not sure the off-side chaos at T-Square was entirely necessary

[EliteCaptainGadget]

Amazing VID!!! Trafalger Square part was soo hialrious!