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A MAN HAS died after being crushed by a hydraulic urinal in London’s West End.
A hydraulic urinal is one that is hydraulically raised and lowered into the ground.
Emergency services tried to save the man, who has not been named, but he died at the scene today.
Ambulance crews, an air ambulance and firefighters were dispatched at 1.05pm and police were called five minutes later.
The incident took place at Cambridge Circus on the junction between Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road.
The man was freed earlier today but was pronounced dead soon after.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We’re sorry to have to update that, despite the efforts of emergency services, the man who was critically injured in Cambridge Circus was pronounced dead at the scene.
“His next of kin have been informed. Cordons remain in place at the location
“Police were called at around 1.10pm to a seriously injured man at Cambridge Circus, W1.
“The man is thought to have sustained crush injuries while working on a telescopic urinal at the location.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We were called today at 1.05pm to reports of an incident on Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, members of our hazardous area response team, members of our tactical response unit and a medic in a fast response car.
“We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.”
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It’s a joke of an industry,
Many of the people I know who worked in it have left because creches want them to have degrees but they’ll pay them barely over min wage with next to no chance of any increases.
The money is made by the creche owners and certainly not the staff, the staff work crazy long hours with feck all pay.
The industry badly needs to be taken under the department of education
@Barry Somers: A lot of industries in Ireland operate that way. I know people working in manufacturing jobs taking home 329 euro for a 40 hour week. No pension, no benefits and no hope.
@Barry Somers: with it being 1800/1900 for two kids in Dublin then you know it’s not going to the workers
@David Corrigan: do they also have degrees to work in that industry though?
Even call centres pay more then child care and you don’t need a degree to get the call centre job.
@Barry Somers: No they would not have degrees to be honest with you Barry. 40 hour week working in an engineering environment.
Yet we are up there with the highest child care costs in Europe.
@Derek Durkin: on account of the insurance costs. The creches have to pay the ever increasing insurance premiums and then the government comes up with another new standard they have to adhere to which costs more again. While the fees are high, the creches aren’t exactly sitting on mounds of money.
@Derek Durkin: Yep, it’s only about 120 euro per child per month in Sweden. But we prefer to cut income taxes which makes services private at high cost to the individual, marvellous capitalism that destroys the family unit and only benefits the rich. https://sweden.se/society/10-things-that-make-sweden-family-friendly/
@Niall O’Neill: hey, the powers that be in this country have been trying to destroy the family unit for hundreds of years.
Remember our leader is of the opinion that you can get your rich parents to pay for it, or if you don’t have them you can leave.
Why does it come as a surprise to childcare workers that it is poorly paid? I have no kids and know nothing about kids, but I know it is and always has been a poorly paid job.
@John Horan: But it shouldn’t be so low that those working full time cannot make ends meet. If you work full time you should be able to afford to live, no matter what your job is.
@Chris Judge: I agree 100%.
@Chris Judge: Whether it should be or not isn’t really the issue. On a personal level why would you go into an industry knowing it is badly paid. As for no matter what job it should be a wage that you can live on is a new concept. Many jobs were only ever supplementary incomes worked part time. To change that whole nature will take a long time
@Craic_a_tower: Who cares what the reasons are – someone has to do it, so why question those who do?
It’s looking after kids, which is a very hard job and I respect them for it. They should be paid a decent salary.
I’d assume the main issue is the insurance costs for running a nursery/creche drive prices up, so very little of the money they make goes to the workers.
@Chris Judge: it seems fair to question people who complain about poor wages in a sector where everyone else knows it is poorly paid. There are people doing it on those wages.
Do you worry about landlords getting a decent return? Did you run to their defence when renting at a loss?
@Chris Judge: then don’t sign up for the job. The market will soon adjust when there is nobody willing to do the job
@Craic_a_tower: I assume people go into childcare because they see it as a rewarding job that they like and think they would be good at. Isn’t this what everyone should be doing? Pay is a seperate issue.
The answer is to go on strike and then see what happen they could bring the country to a standstill
Where is the money going? The creche fees in this country are outrageous.
A sure fire way of not retaining and attracting quality staff,
@David Walsh: and you have to jump through hoops to get the job to be paid peanuts..qualifications, Garda vetting, first aid training etc forget it, sure it not even a living wage and a lot of them end up going on the dole during summer if creches/montessoris and they become seasonally unemployed. It’s a mug’s game.
As a preschool teacher I can say how undervalued the industry is in this country which is why I’m currently emigrating to Australia where it is valued and recognised in wages! I do it for the love of the job but it’s getting ridiculous here. I’m at the top of the scale in this country (plus the pay cut we had to take in the recession due to cut in funding) and it’s a joke!
@Siobh: “I do it for the love of the job”
“So I’m going to Australia because they pay more”
Helicopter parents don’t help litigating when their kid falls over or bumps into something. Insurance companies will use that as justification to increase the premiums.
Childcare is a good career in the uk
Bring in a sectoral employment order
Time for the Department of Education to wake up !! This is Early Years Education…not a babysitting service. Some of my friends are teachers, I have more qualifications and training than they do. As pointed out above we also, cook, clean, advise etc…
It’s the same in a lot of jobs in Ireland, workers are struggling to make ends meet. I work in a multinational and several people in my area head to a second job after work. This is what FF/FG have done to our country. Cost of living WAY too high – people are no longer ‘living’, they’re merely existing.
have your say