Woman arrested over abusive ‘move your van’ note on ambulance
Staffordshire Police detained 26-year-old after reading about incident on Twitter
Staffordshire Police have arrested a 26-year-old woman who left an abusive note on an ambulance dealing with a 999 call.
The note read: “If this van is for anyone but Number 14 then you have no right to be parked here. I couldn’t give a s**t if the whole street collapsed. Now move your van from outside my house.”
The woman, from Stoke-on-Trent, is also believed to have verbally abused paramedics. She was arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
“Paramedics were left disgusted,” local newspaper The Sentinel reports.
Staffordshire Police said the incident was not reported, but the force took action after seeing details on Twitter.
Mike Duggan, operational manager from West Midlands Ambulance Service, told the BBC that people who abuse emergency staff need to be dealt with more robustly.
It is by no means the first report of abuse involving paramedics. In November, police arrested a man accused of calling a paramedic a “f***ing idiot” because her ambulance was blocking a street as crew responded to an emergency, the Daily Mail reports.
A free daily email with the day’s biggest news and analysis – and the best features from TheWeek.com