Paramedics left upset by ‘rude’ note left on ambulance complaining about where it was parked
An ambulance crew in Leicester were stunned to find a note from a disgruntled resident complaining about parking left on their vehicle.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) said they responded to a genuine emergency, during which a note was put on the windscreen.
The handwritten note said the ambulance had been blocking the neighbour’s driveway for 45 minutes but EMAS said the vehicle was parked ‘as considerately as possible’.
Please come and talk to us if you urgently need to leave your house and our ambulance is blocking your access – don’t just leave a note! It upsets our crews and we will not see it until we leave. If we can move, we will, but the patient comes first: https://t.co/nMxAYOdsdb
— East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (@EMASNHSTrust) August 20, 2018
The service has now asked for anybody with a problem to speak to them directly if they urgently need to leave their house and their access is blocked as rude notes ‘upsets’ staff.
Lee Brentnall, Paramedic and Ambulance Operations Manager for Leicestershire said: ‘It is so disappointing to see that a rude note has yet again been left on one of our ambulances.
‘This upsets our dedicated ambulance crews when they are trying to help our patients and do their job.
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‘Leaving a note will not resolve the situation as we are unlikely to see it until we are leaving in the ambulance to take the patient to hospital or to go to our next job.’
After the note was posted on Twitter, people quickly jumped to the crew’s defence, offering their own drives whenever they needed it:
Dear EMAS
If you need to provide aid to one of my neighbours then feel free to park in front of my drive to do so— Stephen J (@steve_a_j) August 20, 2018
If you ever need to attend the ignorant one from that house, park about 5 minutes away and walk…make em suffer a bit, wouldn’t want to be parking across someone’s drive while you might be saving a life would be so terrible wouldn’t it? Some people don’t deserve the NHS
— Neil Sherratt (@AbramLatic) August 20, 2018
How infuriating this must be for your crews. I am sure most people know that they are parked in that particular location for a reason. Please keep up the fantastic work.
— Carelinknel (@nelcarelink) August 20, 2018
I can’t believe you have to justify yourselves when you’re saving lives and have to park as close as you can to the patient. Who are these people that leave these notes on an ambulance for blocking a drive? I’d stay in my house for a week if they needed to me to. 🚑
— Hannah Albrighton (@hbomb85) August 20, 2018
They couldn’t come speak to the crew at the time, they didn’t have the spine to enable them to do so
— Russell Morris (@M80Russmorris10) August 20, 2018
I sat in a car blocked in after leaving my dads late one night. Not once did I think about beeping my horn, trying to find out where they were or writing a note. I sat there and played a game on my phone, when they came out they apologised I told them no need #justdoingtheirjob
— Clare (@StValDay74) August 20, 2018
Earlier this year, Kirsty Sharman was fined £120 after she admitted telling paramedics to ‘move your f******g van’ and leaving a foul-mouthed note on their ambulance when they parked outside her house in Stoke-on-Trent.
Ms Brentnall said that paramedics will try to move their vehicle whenever possible.
He continued: ‘Our crews are approachable. If you genuinely need to leave your house urgently and we are blocking your access, please come and knock on the door where the emergency is taking place.
‘Sometimes we will be able to move the vehicle, for example if we are treating a patient but they do not need both of us there at the time.
‘However, there will be times that we are treating someone experiencing a life-threatening and time-critical emergency and moving our ambulance will not be our priority.
‘In these cases, you will need to be patient as we try to save someone’s life.’