The gear will be carried in 400 London cabs, each of which will have a badge identifying it to emergency services and passers-by.
According to the organisation Rapaid, the bandages can apply up to 18kg of pressure to a blood injury.
The gear, it stated, might be vital in the “golden minutes until help arrives.”
The objective behind the programme, according to the charity’s founder, Alex Chivers, was to allow witnesses, victims, and first responders to stem blood loss incurred in knife assaults or major accidents.
A pressure applicator is put over the area, allowing the bandage’s direction to be altered for it can be wrapped around the incision in various directions.
According to the Licenced Taxi Drivers Association, black cabs are “ideally placed” to transport bandages.
It made perfect sense for taxi-cabs to carry the same pressure-bar bandages designed for the battlefield,” said Mr Chivers, a former special forces soldier and Wiltshire Police firearms officer.
With a serious haemorrhage, you can bleed to death in under five minutes – time literally does save lives.
The plan was hailed by Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licenced Taxi Drivers Association.
According to him, black cabs are “ideally placed to carry these bandages, with participating taxis able to be quickly flagged down in an emergency or drivers to pull over and help if they come across a serious incident or life-threatening situation.”
“Cabbies frequently stop to assist people in distress and help keep Londoners safe when the worst happens,” he continued. They will be more prepared to do so now.”
The scheme’s deployment in London followed experiments in locations such as Manchester, Oxford, and Exeter.
