on the way into my building this morning, way past Liverpool Street, I was stopped by a man saying he needed to get to Homerton Hospital. My first reaction was 'sorry mate I don't know where it is' thinking he wanted directions. Then he said he needed to get there quickly and could I spare some change for a taxi. He held out his hand with a couple of quid and some change and said he didn't think he had enough. I was a bit reticent to help when he then rolled up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a really bad gash on his forearm. I said 'yeah, you definatley need a hospital for that'. He claimed he had scraped it against a wall whilst cycling up an alley. The blood was flowing, it was a gaping wound and would definately need stitching. I put my hand in my pocket and gave him all the change I had, close to a couple of quid. He said thanks very much and walked off. As I went into my building I saw him a few yards down the road approach someone else, presumably with the same story. Question now is :
was he telling the truth ? If not would someone harm themselves that badly just to elicit money from people. I mean he could get upwards of £50 in say half an hour and then walk to the hospital to get it seen to any way. Or am I being unfair here ? To add to this the jacket he had on was a motorcycle type padded jacket and not damaged on the outside. Ok, maybe he didn't have the jacket on but if cycling you would surely wear it instead of carry it. Have I been conned ?
What would you have done ?
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Or if its that bad, called an ambulance.
If you felt that was the right thing to do at the time then that was the right thing to do.
BTW wouldn't Whitechapel A & E be nearer.
BTW I used to live opposite the old Homerton Hospital. It was where the hospital scenes in the Elephant man were shot.
wouldn't have a clue what bus to catch plus he was walking and talking ok so could have called his own ambulance although to be fair I didn't think of that !!
not worried about the bit of loose change. If he was begging I'd rather he say than lie, nothing worse than a lying beggar. Homerton, now Whitechapel, I'm getting all confused. Cannon Street to office in a straight a line as possible is all I want to know of East London.
Barts in Smithfield would have been closer but no A & E any more.
you may as well be talking about the Moon.
I would rather lose on a few quid by doing what may be the right thing than risk some guy bleeding to death on the off chance he might be a pisshead.
That said you could have directed him to the police station the other side of the road from liv. street station as I am sure they could have helped.
Whole new world to explore out there, Brick Lane, Dalston Market, etc.
And if you don't want to go that far the Church of St Bartholomew the Great just off Smithfield is one of the best Churches in London. Wonderful Hogarth painting in the Great Hall next door as well.
well, I may explore a bit now the better weather is here. Havn't been out during the day since we moved in here, 19 Jan. Apparently Spittlefields Market is just over the road too.
A bit trendy now but worth grabbing an A to Z and just wandering the back streets. Lots of good Georgian Houses and you might even see Goonerhater's favourites Gilbert and George wandering around.
Whitechappel Art Gallery was being done up when I was there at Xmas but you can get lots of dodgy DVDs outside Whitechappel tube before popping in the Blind Beggar pub for some Kray twins tourism.