I was a member of the first aid team at a football club in Fife. (I was a member of St Andrew’s Ambulance Corps – I had started training in first aid as part of the bronze award for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.) At the time I was 16 yrs old. I had graduated from being a junior first aider to senior, but did not yet have my uniform – was wearing jeans, a shirt and a woolly tank top. Fully covered – not that that should matter.
We had a first aid room under the stadium. At break time, it was the job of the junior first aiders to collect the pies from the stadium take-away and to make the tea for the first aiders and the police on duty.
A young police officer and and middle-aged police sergeant came in for their tea and half-time pie.
We greeted them as normal and asked how they took their tea. The only two first aiders in the room were myself and my best friend – the same age as me. (The others were on duty in the dugout.)
The sergeant approached me: “I’ve got an awful pain at the top o ma leg, hen. Will you have a look at it for me?”
I was flustered. The young officer looked horribly embarrassed. Fortunately, my pal was a bit more savvy and simply said, “Please see one of our male colleagues about that, sir.”
Just then, the Corps Commandant came in – a retired mineworker – and the police sergeant’s demeanour changed.
I know that this is very mild compared to what has happened to others, but it has always bothered me that this man could think that he could treat a teenage girl like this.
I’m now in my 60s and I keep wishing that I could go back in time to tell that horrible man where to get off. Although the area is now covered by Police Scotland, in those days Fife had a separate police force.
Constabulary: Police Scotland
Timespan: Second half of the 1970s.
Did you report it to the police?: No
Your ethnicity: White Minority Ethnic
Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: No
Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: No
