Staff issued with stab-proof vests after boss threatened
A South Ribble security company is issuing staff with stab-proof vests after its director was threatened with a knife.
The Kudos Group, based in Worden Park, Leyland, has handed out seven of the vests priced up to 250 each in "response to the growing knife culture".
The company, which provides mobile patrols and manned security staff, has started by giving the first batch to security staff working in the NHS.
A further ten vests have been placed on order for the business, which has 10 full-time office staff and a pool of around 100 security workers.
The group's business development director Mark Prendergast said: "The reality is you can't open up a paper without reading about a stabbing and we want to be proactive in tackling the problem."
"We've given the first vests to our staff working within the NHS as they work unsocial hours and we feel this is the best way to protect them."
The 36-year-old revealed he came up with the idea after he was threatened himself with a four-inch knife while working as a doorman earlier this year at a nightclub.
He said: "At the time your training kicks in and you act on auto-pilot but when the immediate threat has gone you start to think about what could have happened."
The vests are normally worn under shirts so they cannot be seen by the public. They can protect potential victims from attacks from knives, syringes, spikes and slashes.
The Kudos Group was founded in 2004. Earlier this year the company expanded by moving to larger premises in Worden Park, Leyland.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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