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London Ambulance Service has revealed that in the year to July 2026, ambulance crews and control room staff have reported 462 incidents of abuse while helping patients.
Abuse of ambulance staff includes making sexual threats, groping, indecent exposure, explicit comments and sexual violence. While the majority of the reports cite abuse happening face to face, nearly a third show that control room officers are experiencing abuse by callers to 999 or 101.
Launching a new campaign called “We show up. Show some respect,” LAS has released footage of abuse faced by its staff to show the stark reality of what paramedics face on the streets of London. Using body worn camera footage, the campaign video below exposes the sexualised comments and inappropriate touching colleagues experience while trying to help patients.
Vowing to tackle the abuse, LAS chief Jason Killens said he was asking Londoners to show some respect. “We show up when London needs us.” He described the impact that sexual violence, comments, threats, touching and exposure have on staff and the disruption it has to emergency care that may delay help reaching other patients. “It has to stop,” he added, branding the behaviour as “disgusting.”
The capital’s ambulance service shared the story of one paramedic, Gosha, who says she endures sexist or sexualised comments most days when on duty. She was assessing a patient when he groped her and then refused further care. She discovered that he had done the same to another paramedic. She called the police and the man was jailed for 18 weeks for sexual assault in March this year.
Killens is asking the public to call this behaviour out and know that giving evidence to the police after an incident “might help ensure the perpetrators face the consequences of their actions.” He added that where a crime has been committed, LAS would work with the police and push for prosecution.
In May 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service released guidance aimed at speeding up resolution of cases brought under the Assaults against Emergency Workers Act by encouraging prosecutors to try more cases in magistrates’ courts.
Earlier this year, the law was strengthened further to protect women from sex-based harassment. A man was jailed for three months for harassing London paramedic Ella Johnson in the Metropolitan Police’s first conviction under the new law.
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