Lifeless hairdressing mannequin in car prompted emergency rescue operation

A hairdressing mannequin prompted an emergency operation when a resident thought it was a dead body.

Fire, ambulance and police tried to break into a car in Dovercourt, Essex, yesterday morning, when a member of the public alerted them to the car. He spotted what he thought was an unconscious body and tried shaking the car to wake them up.



When he had no response he called 999 at about 7.40am to bring paramedics to the scene. The East Anglian Air Ambulance was also dispatched but cancelled when the ambulance service realised it was a false alarm.

East of England Ambulance Service spokesman Gary Sanderson said: “This is a very unusual incident we attended this morning and the person who dialled 999 did the right thing as they couldn’t gain access to the car and thought the person wasn’t breathing. In 27 years’ service I haven’t dealt with an incident like this.”