Paramedics treating a seriously ill patient were left stunned when they received a rude note on their ambulance from a homeowner complaining their driveway had been blocked.
The crew found the thoughtless letter attached to their vehicle after they had rushed to a medical emergency in Leicester at 11pm on Sunday (19/8).
The note read: “You blocked my driveway I waited 45 mins for you to move. Please have some consideration where you park the ambulance! This is not the first time.”
East Midlands Ambulance Service has now urged people to talk to ambulance staff if vehicles are blocking their route.
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.
“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.
“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.”
Web users leapt to the support of the ambulance service after they posted the image on social media
Louise Rodrigues put: “Just hope this individual doesn’t need there help in future”
Carelinknel tweeted: “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.”
Susan Swift said: “Feel free to block our drive/road anytime and I hope this cretin never needs emergency care….what an idiot!!!”
Paula Barker added: “They should be ashamed”
Anna Thomas-Dyke wrote: “Diabolical behavior. Don’t feel the need to justify why you’ve parked where you have. We know what a fabulous service you provide for us all. Not all of us are morons. You park where you have to.”
