IS it really so long ago that we had natural respect for people holding official posts?

Although it probably seems like I was brought up in the Dark Ages, when I was young we wouldn’t have dreamed of giving a policeman a mouthful of abuse, of damaging an ambulance or threatening firemen going about their work or stealing from appliances.

Today, in spite of the fact that the emergency services are usually present when people are in desperate and urgent need of their expertise, they are regularly given abuse and threats and even subjected to violence.

It’s not unusual to hear of gangs of youngsters terrorising fire and ambulance personnel as they tackle an emergency. Police no longer command automatic respect, although they are the face of British law and order, and the public generally treats the emergency services and their considerable expertise very lightly indeed.

Over Bank Holidays like last weekend’s, 999 calls to North West Ambulance Service would have increased. Many will be people uncertain where to seek medical care, but the ambulance service is no one-stop shop for sore throats and bad chests.

They are constantly called with trivial requests for help that are totally unsuitable for an emergency service. One woman rang to ask paramedics to help her tidy her kitchen and another time-waster contacted emergency services after his toe-nail had changed colour.

All police and emergency services’ personnel are highly-trained to deal with their field, which does not include assisting with some light dusting or fighting fungal nail infection. We, taxpayers, have paid for their training so that they can use their extensive skills when disaster, personal or public, strikes.

They are visible at every possible emergency from road accidents and fires to air disasters like the terrible event at Shoreham and when floods threaten homes and lives.

If you suffer a life-threatening emergency in your home, the sight of police, fire or ambulance officers is the most welcome in the world. Diverting their costly services to where they are not necessarily needed or pertinent is a genuine waste of resources we can ill afford.

They have had funding cut dramatically and all services are already badly depleted, but still they continue to give their professional best.

They deserve our respect and our gratitude – and they definitely deserve to be taken seriously and used sparsely. For all sorts of reasons, it’s madness to do otherwise.