Critical bleed kits placed around Luton town centre to help stab victims

Wingman Mentors is a not-for-profit organisation that works with vulnerable young people who are on the cusp of getting involved with crime, carrying knives, and serious violence.

Its CEO and founder, Si Philbert, has raised the money for the specialist kits to be placed in locations around the town.

This news came after a month-long spate of fatal stabbings in Luton last year, the last of which left a 16-year-old schoolboy dead.

The three bleed kits cost around £730 in total and have been placed in Grosvenor Casino at 35, Park Street West, LU1 3BE; The White House Wetherspoons at 1, Bridge Street, LU1 1SA; and an external box outside AW House at 6-10, Stuart Street, LU1 2SJ.

The kits are designed to help people control a major bleed if they find someone with a stab wound or other injury.

Michelle Kane, who is also part of Wingman Mentors, said: “It’s just about stemming the bleeding so the emergency services can get there quick enough.”

But Si says these kits are not a “knee-jerk reaction”. He explained: “For me, these bleed kits are as important as defibrillators, as far as being able to possibly save a life.”

Michelle added: “A critical bleed can be in anything, it's not necessarily just a stabbing, it could be a car accident or a dog attack.

"They would call 999 and they would be directed to their nearest critical bleed kit.”

“It's really important for us to make sure that the community is aware of what these kits look like and to familiarise themselves with their kits.

"It can be very, very daunting and quite scary. I think if most of us came across a critical bleed you would just panic and not really know very much what to do.

"But like CPR now, we would all give CPR a go even though we're not trained.”

Wingman Mentors is hoping for more funding to add more kits to the town – if you are interested in sponsoring a bleed bag or wall kit, click here.

Si added: “This really needs to be looked at as a national health crisis, simply because of the amount of young people that are dying.

"We need to address ‘zombie knives’ and machetes, the legality of them and sentences that young people are getting for carrying them.”

The kits are from Daniel Baird Foundation Charity, which was set up after 26-year-old Daniel was fatally stabbed in Birmingham in 2017.

They include a large trauma dressing (designed to control moderate bleeding), a gauze dressing (designed to control moderate to very severe haemorrhage), a Fox Seal chest seal (an emergency dressing for chest wounds), a tourniquet (to stop the blood flow to arms or legs), two pairs of disposable gloves, scissors, emergency foil blanket, a face mask that protects the wearer if they need to give CPR and a marker pen to note down the time the tourniquet was applied.