Autistic boy who was attacked on Christmas Day visits Eastbourne Fire Station: ‘It was absolutely outstanding’

On Christmas Day (Saturday, December 25) at around 2pm Oliver Mason was in Shinewater Park with his brother and cousins when two teenagers aged around 15-16 approached him.

Oliver’s mum Steph Mason said the teenagers proceeded to attack Oliver with his own shoes because he wouldn’t give them his new phone.

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The story got a lot of attention on social media.

On Facebook Sue Skinner said, “This beggars belief, what sort of human would do this to another, kids or not? I have absolutely no time for bullies, whether it’s verbal or physical!! I hope Oliver is recovering from this disgraceful act bless him.”

Margaret Robinson said, “Sorry to hear your son has been attacked. Hope he is recovering as it must have been very scary for him. Shame on those that did this. I hope they are found and their parents told. Oliver you are one very brave young man.”

Deborah Coppard said, “Breaks my heart reading this. I hope they catch the kids responsible for this.”

To this reaction Steph said, “I was surprised at the response in a positive way. I wasn’t expecting as many people to be so supportive and wanting to help and share what had happened to my son. It was a very difficult time and for me it was more about raising awareness to help protect other children from being victims of assault, which I feel I did.”

Amongst the comments was a reply on Twitter from Dawn Whittaker, chief fire officer at East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (ESFRS).

Dawn said, “This has made me SO cross. If Oliver and his family would like to arrange a visit to Eastbourne Fire Station for a guided tour when covid allows, we would be thrilled to arrange that, we know that neurodiversity is a super power.”

Steph said, “It was lovely to hear from Dawn and it was so kind after all the trauma my son had gone through to know there are people out there who do care and want to do something nice to help my son feel better about everything.”

The Herald put Dawn and Steph in touch and on yesterday (Thursday, March 3) Oliver and Steph, along with Oliver’s brother and sister, Alfie and Macey, and Steph’s brother James Mason, went to visit Eastbourne Fire Station.

Steph said, “The visit was brilliant, my kids all loved it and everyone at the fire station were so kind and made us feel really welcome and we learnt a lot as they really described their jobs so well.”

Oliver said, “It was absolutely outstanding and very fun and very good and I enjoyed it very much.”

Macey said, “The visit was really fun and I learnt a lot about it all. They were really nice people and I’d love to go again.”

Alfie said, “I had fun and would like to go again.”

Station commander Vinny O’Neil was the one to lead the visit. He said, “It was really important for ESFRS to arrange the visit for Oliver and his family as we wanted to give a relatively small but heartfelt reward to an amazing young person who epitomises and reflects our stance on bullying and to hopefully show him, and others, that there is an upside to being brave and standing up to those who would choose to treat us this way.”

Vinny said he was ‘appalled’ when he saw the original story.

He said, “It’s difficult to comprehend that individuals can be treated that way but incredibly reassuring that young people like Oliver are willing and able to make a stand. I was not only incredibly proud of Oliver but also his mum, Steph, for making a point of highlighting the incident, which couldn’t have been easy, but will shine a light on Oliver’s commendable reaction and offer inspiration and confidence for other people who may, unfortunately, find themselves in that situation.”

The station tour included a chance for the family to meet all staff members, see the pole drop in use, get into some uniform, and see what happens when a fire call comes in.

Vinny said, “Oliver’s enthusiasm and questioning was extremely entertaining and kept everybody on their toes!!

“From our point of view the visit was incredibly rewarding in that, particularly over the last two years, we have been very restricted in our available interactions with the public and this is something that, as a community service, we rely upon, encourage and thrive on. Not only for our own benefit but also as a vital conduit to reach all members of the community that we are all honoured to serve.

“Now that we are starting to live with the pandemic and able to begin to cautiously open our doors again rewarding Oliver and his family was an extremely satisfying and, hopefully, enjoyable afternoon for all involved.

“It will be great to stay in touch with Oliver and his family and maybe one day we might have three more firefighter recruits joining us at ESFRS!”

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