Bleed bags to treat stab victims given to convenience stores

The “bleed bags” have been supplied by an anti-knife crime campaign group – Off the Streets –  which was formed after the fatal stabbing of local man Dylan Holliday on an estate in Wellingborough.

Among the stores to take the bleed bags is Finedon Premier, managed by Shuky Bassi.

He said: “We have had a lot of stabbings in the areas around here and I think people are just getting fed up with it.

“The bags are a help, obviously, and not just for stabbings, they can help with other accidents as well. And when you ring 999 you can take instructions down the phone on what to do with them.”

Arti Patel, owner of the Londis in Grange Place, Kettering, agreed.

She said: “We are quite happy to have one of these bags here. If it can help the community at some point then we are willing to do it.”

The other locations where the blood bags have been installed are the Spar in High Street, Raunds; Premier Irchester; Shelley Park Stores, Wellingborough; Budgens in Berrymoor Road, Wellingborough; Josan Express Store in Elsden Road, Wellingborough and PJ Bargains in Northampton Road, Wellingborough.

Rav Jones, the co-founder of Off the Streets, said: “We are going to get bleed bags everywhere. Some people seem to think it won’t happen in their area but we want them all over the area.

“When we first started Off the Streets it was just in Wellingborough, now we’re campaigning in the whole of north Northamptonshire.”

Bleed boxes work in the same way as public use defibrillators. A cabinet is attached to the side of a building and the contents can be located and then accessed using a code provided by 999 operators.

The kits inside can then be used by a first aider to help anyone who has been stabbed. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes.

Shops where bleed bags are stored can be identified by a red sticker in the window.