From 20 February 2007 new provisions came into force to crack down on those who intentionally obstruct emergency workers trying to carry out their work. The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 sets out offences meaning that anyone who gets in the way of an emergency worker responding to an emergency situation can be prosecuted and fined up to £5,000. The Act covers ambulance workers, people transporting blood, organs or NHS equipment, coastguards and lifeboat crews. Police and prison officers are covered by separate legislation.
Home Office Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said, "The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of those serving their communities. Too often emergency workers are unable to get to incidents as quickly as they should due to a minority of people obstructing their rescue efforts. This seriously impacts the ability of the workers to do their job effectively and more worryingly, on those who require an emergency response. Such behaviour will not be tolerated, and deliberate attempts to obstruct or prevent emergency workers from doing their very difficult jobs will face a stiff penalty."
