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February 9, 2010
Fire brigade bills fairground ride victims for rescue
Published: 16 Nov 09 12:07 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091116-23303.html
Fourteen people rescued by the fire brigade after being left dangling upside down from a Berlin fairground ride last summer for nearly an hour have been slapped with a hefty bill, a spokesman said Monday.
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Finally saved after 44 long minutes, each person must now pay €281.43 ($420) after their ordeal.
Thorsten W., 39, who was on the ride with his wife and child, told the Bild daily: "We have been punished enough. Our son never wants to go on a carousel
again. And now we have to pay almost €850? Never!"
The operator of the ride refuses to pay because they didn't call the emergency services, and were capable of rescuing the 14 people themselves, Bild said.
"We didn't call the fire brigade ... We didn't need any help, and therefore we will not cover these costs," Ron Agtsch told the paper.
Stefan Fleischer, a spokesman for the Berlin fire service, defended the decision to send out bills, but said that the fire service was now looking into the affair.
"This is not the fire brigade being cheeky or nasty. We performed a service, and ... the people rescued are now being billed," Fleischer told AFP.
He added that the people have the possibility to claim back the costs from their insurance firms, or to sue the operator.
AFP (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
Billing the customers of the ride to put it simply is outrageous.
But really, I think it is fair for the emergency services to charge people to recover the cost of fuel. However, the ride operator should pay the costs. Especially if it still took 44 minutes to rescue people from the ride.
If they insist on billing SOMEBODY it needs to be the operators. If they could have fixed the problem themselves then why didn't they announce that? Why did it take 44 minutes before they did anything? Presumably they wanted to let the fire department do it and save themselves the hassle.
P.S. Next time you're dragged to a carnival, if you're feeling really mean, go to a junkyard and buy yourself a bag of assorted rusty (but not too rusty) nuts and bolts. Go on the ride once, at the end of which toss a few nuts and bolts on the floor, walk a discrete viewing distance away and enjoy the laughs.
"sozialstaat Deutschland", as one guy said, the passengers will have to switch in their
"rechtschutzversicherung", and sue the fairground operators to recover their costs
It happens more often than you'd think
only in Germany...........
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17466301/Invoice-from-a-Nacogdoches-Volunteer-Fire-Department
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/grants/ruralfire/invoiceform.pdf
http://www.ci.woodland.wa.us/AgendasMinutes/CityCouncil/2008/070708/II%20Fire%20june.pdf (scroll to item no. 5)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17466301/Invoice-from-a-Nacogdoches-Volunteer-Fire-Department
http://files.dnr.state.mn.…
no need to go into research mode
And then there was the time when a friend of our passed out while climbing on a Scottish island where no overnight stays are allowed (its a nature sanctuary) and there is an absolute alchohol ban. He was rescued by heli (the lifeboat also attended) and his bill was GBP3500. Reason enough to give up the booze I guess.
isn't terrifying enough for the emergency services to get involved.
and the quote from the fire brigade
"This is not the fire brigade being cheeky or nasty. We performed a service, and ... the people rescued are now being billed,"
beggars belief
But it all comes down to money, someone HAS to pay
isn't terrif…
"We didn't call the fire brigade ... We didn't need any help, and therefore we will not cover these costs,"
that this has even come up for discussion is incredible,
14 people dangling 15m up, for 44 minutes - if that isn't worthy of a (fire service) rescue, what is??
P.S. Fire departments are not government organisations, they are communal.