Carver Street Sheffield: 'Bleed kit' on violence-plagued party street has never been used, says group

The emergency "bleed control" kit on Carver Street in Sheffield city centre may not have been used since it was installed, according to the Sheffield BID (business improvement district).

The big red cabinets were rolled out earlier this year, designed to help prevent people from bleeding to death in the event of a serious attack or incident.

Darren Hendleman, Sheffield BID Operations Manager, told The Star the Carver Street cabinet has never been used to his knowledge.

He said: "I have not been made aware it has been used. Ideally, I should be told so I can replenish it."

Carver Street has become notorious for violence during nights out. Last weekend, three men were stabbed in a flurry of violence in the early hours of Saturday, September 9.

The men were all in their 20s and were taken to hospital once emergency services arrived. Three men, aged 35, 26 and 19, were arrested on suspicion of wounding.

On Friday, September 15, South Yorkshire Police confirmed 27-year-old Wajahat Ali, of Sheldon Road, Sheffield, had been charged with affray and threatening a person with a blade/sharply pointed article in a public place.

In 2023 alone, there have been five violent incidents reported on, four of which were stabbings.

Four of those five incidents took after the bleed control kit was installed on Carver Street, on the wall of the bar, Crystal, in the car park.

Despite this, Mr Hendleman, who is a former police officer, is not concerned the kit hasn't been used.

He said: "It depends on where the incident was and who was dealing with it. Police and paramedics may have the equipment to deal with the incident.

"The primary aim [of the kits] was to allow the average person on the street to be able to use it if they need to."

Recently, Anthony Olaseinde, the founder of local knife crime charity, Always An Alternative, outlined a swathe of security measures he believes would effectively stop the violence on Carver Street.

He called for the road to be closed to all traffic during nights out, with one entrance at each end of the road. These entrances would be equipped with metal detectors, manned by professional security teams, with two dedicated police officers stationed within the cut-off zone.

South Yorkshire Police has previously responded to concerns about the level of crime, particularly offences stemming from the use of a blade, on Carver Street, and what the force is doing to combat it.

Speaking at the end of April 2023, Chief Inspector for Neighbourhoods at Sheffield District, Gareth Thomas, said: “We acknowledge that when violent crimes happen it is extremely concerning for our local communities, and we have sadly seen a number of serious incidents occur on Carver Street in recent years. We are as appalled as anyone when these violent crimes occur in our city, and like many of our policing colleagues across the country, tackling violent criminality continues to be a priority. We have robust plans in place to tackle the ongoing issues we experience in our night time economy, and a great deal of work is currently taking place, proactively and at pace, to tackle violent crime as a whole.

“We have recruited additional Sergeants, PCs and PCSOs into our City Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team and bespoke shift patterns have been designed to provide additional coverage into the night time economy. They are deployed to busy, key locations within the city centre, such as Carver Street."