IT IS a shocking disclosure that a sixth of all sickness among Lancashire's ambulance staff is due to stress, much of it caused by violence and abuse they are suffering from the public.

And while we have no figures to tell whether this is a worsening trend, the existing effects of the toll on crews' nerves point to a real and disturbing problem.

The root of it, of course, falls on the public. It is a disgrace that so many of them -- not just patients, but their relatives and bystanders, too -- should launch verbal and physical attacks on people whose job it is to come to the aid of the public, frequently in life-or-death circumstances.

Their job is, by its very nature, full of enough stress as it is. And it is outrage that so many are being made ill by the brutal behaviour they are having to endure.

One can fully understand the response that the crews' trade union is now considering -- of taking out private prosecutions against the attackers.

But it is a pity that they are having to resort to this tactic -- when it is clear that it stems from frustration and disappointment at the failure of the police and Crown Prosecution Service to bring criminal prosecutions in many cases.

Surely, crews would have much better security if there was a policy of zero tolerance of attacks on ambulance crews -- from all branches of the law,

If that is lacking, it is only fair that staff should themselves seek redress and protection from the courts. And their employer is right to be considering assisting them financially when they set out to sue.

It is, however, hard to give blanket support to the suggestion that crews might leave without treating patients if they are threatened -- the varying levels of menace and danger they face makes it hard to uphold a hard-and-fast policy of refusal. But the very notion of it shows the depth of the problem -- and the urgent need to stub it out.