PARAMEDIC Andy Wilson is in the back of his ambulance tending to a man who has been glassed in the neck.

His patient is covered in blood and Andy is calmly trying to patch him up.

What he doesn't need is a drunken woman climbing into the back, looking for a free ride home on board his ambulance.

"Don't mind me, I'm absolutely smashed", she slurs as she clumsily tries to step aboard.

Fortunately, the police are nearby and are able to hold her back only for the woman to sway into the road and lie down in front of the approaching traffic.

As she stands up her bag goes flying and her mobile phone is crushed. Passengers hurl abuse from passing taxi windows.

It's just after midnight on Sunday morning on John Dalton Street and the crew of paramedics based in Manchester city centre are dealing with another round of booze-fuelled mayhem.

"We get it all the time," says Andy.

"People who have had a few drinks see the flashing blue lights and think it's funny to come over.

"We're used to it."

Andy is patching up a 43-year-old Chorlton man who says he was struck by a broken bottle as he queued to get in swanky Panacea nightspot.

"I couldn't believe it," says the man.

"I was just waiting to get in when this drunk comes flying at the bouncers.

Hypothermia

As he goes past me I feel this stinging on my neck. I was shocked. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I've been going out in Manchester for 20 years and this kind of thing has never happened before."

Sadly, Andy and his colleagues see this kind of thing several times in a night's work.

Immediately after the injured man is patched up and taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary, Andy and his colleague take another call for an emergency where alcohol is to blame.

This time it's a female reveller who has drunk too much and is suffering from hypothermia outside another nightspot.

When they arrive at Deansgate Locks' Baa Bar a 26-year-old Polish woman who is dressed in a backless blouse and short black shorts is sprawled over a chair.

"We do not create good impression of Poland," jokes her concerned friend.

It emerges the girl has not been able to cope with the half bottle of vodka and five shots she's knocked back.

Her friends tried to hail her a taxi but say no drivers would take her because of the state she was in.

After she vomits on the floor and crews are subjected to more `banter' from onlookers she is ferried to the MRI to sober up.

In the treatment room next door a pasty faced man in his 20s clutches an empty wine glass and slurs his words to the doctor.

Nurses record the girl's body temperature. With the effects of alcohol and the cold weather it's 33.2 Celsius - much lower than the 37 Celsius it should be.

As the ambulance leaves the hospital the next call comes in - a man threatening to commit suicide at a block of flats in Stockport.

When Andy and his colleague arrive they find the man, a 49-year-old self-confessed alcoholic, with a can of Red Stripe lager in his hand.

He openly admits alcohol is at the root of his problems.

After a long chat he refuses to go to hospital and is persuaded to go to bed to try and sleep it off.

Row

The next call is a domestic in Droylsden.

A woman has been left with glass in her face after a heated row with her partner who is arrested.

There are blood stains all over the house and a broken wine glass sits on the windowsill.

Eventually, at 5.30am, the crew get back to Plymouth Grove station for their 30 minute meal break.

Their shift started at 6.30pm but since 11pm they have been to five incidents that all included alcohol in some shape or form.

Andy, who has 13 years experience as a paramedic, is left to reflect on another night of booze-fuelled carnage.

"It's not out of the ordinary," he says.

"The majority of incidents we go to involve alcohol. I think it's the culture we live in."

He adds: "People don't get to see this side of drinking," he says.

"If they did they might do things differently."

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