Life-saving bleed kit installed at McDonald's amid stab victim campaign

The red boxes include bandages and dressings, among other equipment, to stem bloody flow for people suffering injuries, while they wait for paramedics to arrive.

The aim is to save vital minutes, which can lead to fewer fatalities in incidents such as stabbings.

Now, the McDonald's restaurant on Kent Street in Upper Gornal will be the first of its kind to have one of the kits.

A campaign for their introduction was started by Lynne Baird after her 26-year-old son Daniel was stabbed to death in Digbeth in 2017.

The Daniel Baird Foundation was then set up and the bleed control kits have since been used in a number of shops, businesses, pubs and clubs in Birmingham.

The West Midlands Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Ashley Bertie has praised the decision to roll out the kit in the Black Country.

He said: “Lynne Baird has done an outstanding job campaigning for these small life-saving packs to be rolled out across Dudley.

“The kits are relatively inexpensive and if they help just one person they will have proved a resounding success.

"Lynne’s efforts are to be admired and I’m delighted that these kits will now be available in Dudley."

Lynne Baird added: "This is excellent news for Upper Gornal and for Dudley as a Borough

“I want to thank Keiran and Adam for their help and support with the campaign as the local councillors for the area, but also for the work they are doing to try and get these kits in to businesses, shops and organisations right across the Borough.”

Keiran Casey, Councillor for Upper Gornal & Woodsetton and shadow cabinet member for communities, has been an avid supporter of the campaign.

He said: "When I read about the work Lynne and the Foundation were doing, I wanted to make sure that I supported her campaign and looked at what could be done to get these kits in to as many organisations right across Dudley.

"As a local resident, Councillor for Upper Gornal and Woodsetton and Shadow Cabinet Member for Communities, I am always striving to make my local area and our Borough a safer place for all to live, so following my discussions with Lynne, I got in touch with a range of organisations, the police, council, local businesses and tourist attractions to ask whether they would support the campaign and have these Bleed Kits.

"The response I have received has been fantastic so far and a range of organisations have signed up to have these, from McDonalds in Upper Gornal where the campaign has been launched, the first McDonalds in the UK to have one of these kits I am told, the Black Country Museum, Loaves and Fishes in Dudley High Street and a whole range of other organisations that are looking to follow.

"We are all extremely grateful for all the help and support we have received so far, but I want to pay particular thanks to Bob Beckett, the owner of McDonald's in Upper Gornal for having one of these kits and for all the help and support he has given to our work in the community.

"The Daniel Baird Foundation will continue to campaign for legislation to incorporate publicly accessible bleed control kits, and training to be available nationwide."