Fire crews called to dangerous shop sign

wow what a hero, we need more people like this who like to waste Firecrew time on something that could have been fixed by the owner of the shop if Oliver just let him know...
In fact Oliver should become the local "sign bending slightly in the wind so I'll call emergency services" guy.
Think I'll phone the police and let them know someone deserves a medal right now before the wind whips up and he gets blown away, God forbid...

Quite a hair raising episode!

Who would you have blamed, Christian if the sign had dislodged and killed or seriously injured a pedestrian or child?

I am sure the shop owner is grateful that his public liability insurance remains intact, thanks to Oliver's pre-emptive action.

hey Dave, I think you're missing my point, if I see a shop sign that's missing a few screws then I will inform the shop owner and leave the responsibility to him. If it's hanging off in such a way that it poses a serious threat to the public (which this wasn't) then I would hope the shop owner will already be on the case and if not then again I would let him know and leave the responsibility to him.
Calling the fire brigade is a waste of resources, both human and environmental and calling 999 means that particular operator cannot deal with an actual emergency that may be waiting, the difference between life and death is a matter of minutes and id hate to be dying in a burning house or a mangled car just because someone is abusing the system.
I think Olivers actions were not pre-emptive, more ill-judged and over the top.

That is such a great photo of the fab A1 posters that i do for local businesses A frames. However... business owners should do a daily check really, like car owners (and bike owners), "is everything safe" kind of thing, "is anything dangerous? am i creating a potential for theft? are my customers at risk?" My emergency contact details are held with the Police so if theres an issue with my shop then i'm called out, not them, and it has happened. This was sad for the fire brigade, i guess they couldnt say no, the general public are generally not structural engineers and may be quick to panic.. But do you take a risk and ignore or do you hit the panic button? Tricky one, we all assess things differently. Ask yourself this.. "What would Elvis have done?" ;-)

In February this year a man in his twenties was killed by a shop sign falling off in the wind,
This sign in Wilmslow was flapping in the wind and large metal letters were also working loose with pedestrians, including many children on summer holidays, walking underneath - unaware of the danger overhead.
The shop keeper lacked the resources to make the area safe, environmental health were not answering the phone and the fire crew were the only other sensible option. They arrived and took the appropriate action, after travelling a few hundred yards from the fire station. Hardly a waste of resources and I am sure they have the ability to say no if they disagree.
I hope that others will not be discouraged from contacting the emergency services to report dangers to the public when reading some of the disparaging remarks from Christian above.
Steve, contrary to your assertion that I 'hit the panic button' I assessed the risk and the potential outcomes if the sign was allowed to continue to collapse or worse be blown across the street and took appropriate action and left it to the experts. If I had made the wrong call at worst I risk embarrassment, I can live with that, the other option is walk away and risk someone else's life. Its not such a tough call.
Ultimately, the fire service cordoned off the area and made it safe, they know a bit more about risk than us mere members of 'the general public'.

'It could've been anyone': Pedestrian dies after being hit on head by sign falling off betting shop http://bit.ly/18binER

I wondered what was going on. I cant help but wonder though why they took all the chairs out of the place? I saw them all sitting outside while the Fire crew were there.