AN AMBULANCEMAN is knocked unconscious by a driver at a traffic accident, a crew member is lucky to escape unhurt after a patient turns on her, an ambulance is stoned on the way to a call.

These incidents all happened recently in Gwent, and are part of a depressing catalogue of violence against ambulance staff in Wales.

Faced with a growing threat from a tiny minority of people, who are often fuelled by drink or drugs, Wales's ambulance service has launched an anti-violence campaign to try to address the problem.

A poster campaign, backed by the slogan No Excuse, will seek to spread the message that violence towards paramedics and other ambulance staff will not be tolerated and those who offend will be prosecuted.

"The potential (for violence) is there most days and we are regularly verbally abused," said Sharon Thorpe, an emergency medical technician based at Newport ambulance station, who has been with the service for 10 years.

"We don't actually report a lot of it, but it is still totally unacceptable."

She added: "A colleague of mine was knocked unconscious by a driver at a road traffic accident and a couple of weeks ago, an ambulance from Newport Central was hit with stones on its way to a call in Bettws.

"In an incident I was involved in, we picked up a young woman from Newport who was under the influence, and she refused to go in the back of the ambulance with a man, so I went in with her.

"She hadn't given us any cause for concern regarding being violent, but while we were driving to the Royal Gwent she just turned.

"She started calling me names and pushing me about. Luckily, we were near the hospital. When we got there, she was screaming at me and some of my other colleagues came and kept her off me.

"I've no doubt that if we'd been further away and there had been no-one to help, I'd have been hurt."

Despite the problems she faces, Mrs Thorpe remains very positive about the role that ambulance staff have to play.

"It's still the best job in the world and the overwhelming majority of people are great with us," she said.

The Argus recently reported how heart attack victim Marjorie Hellings, from Risca, was determined to say a face-to-face thank you to the crewmen who kept her alive after her heart stopped following a cardiac arrest at her home.

"That felt like a thank you to all of us, and there is an important message to be had from that incident," said Mrs Thorpe.

"Dealing with someone who is being violent or abusive can take time and that puts pressure on all of us - and our next job might be to try to help a lady like that."