One of my first ambulance posts on this blog was about how I'm terribly upset that I can't run over the people who dive out in front of my ambulance.
I have a new pet hate though...
The Royal London Hospital, situated as it is in the middle of Whitechapel has very poor parking.
However I don't think that it excuses people in private cars ignoring the 'no entry' sign at the front of the ambulance entrance, nor the "Don't park here, ambulances use this space" markings that fill the area outside of the A&E department.
So when I turn up at the hospital with a patient in the back of the ambulance it drives me mad to see so many private cars taking up the space that us ambulances use.
You can call up security to come and have a look, but I think their powers are limited.
What I would *like* to do is take out my ambulance keys and carve into the car paintwork, "You have parked in an ambulance bay. Don't do it again you idiot".
I wouldn't mind but the driver was going to the 'walk in centre'.
if I were truly evil I'd post a picture of their car up here and 'name and shame' them. But that way lies mob rule...
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Sent from a mobile phone, probably from the cab of an ambulance.
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No Parking
Comments
Re: No Parking
by
Jules
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 01:21 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
My biggest pet hate - is people parking in Disabled bays when they are clearly not disabled, nor are their passengers! And yes I'd love to take my key to their paintwork!
Re: Re: No Parking
"clearly not disabled" is kind of subjective, I'm afraid. Not all disabilities are visible - someone can have the blue badge because they have a heart condition and traversing a big car park can be a lot of effort. Or because they have a false leg on which they can walk a few yards easily enough, but which is really painful after the length of a road (these are often the ones with the flashy cars - they bought them with the insurance/compensation payout). Or there could be a hundred other reasons.
I've had people tell me I "don't look disabled", but I've got a blue badge, I'm entitled to use it, I DO have difficulty and pain walking - on bad days I even need a walking stick to get from room to room in my flat - and I'll tell you now I'll be damn cheesed off if you vandalise my car because your expert medical opinion is that I'm Clearly Not Disabled. Re: Re: Re: No Parking
by
Jules
on Mon 25 Sep 2006 09:40 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Sorry should have been clearer - I was meaning people without blue badges - that pull up in their souped up Nova's. It annoys me a lot as I have a mentally handicapped sister and as we we're growing up it became increasingly more difficult to park in the town near where we lived as none blue(or orange) badge holders parked in disabled bays!
Re: Re: Re: Re: No Parking
ah, I see. Sorry.
Usually when I'm challenged about parking it includes people telling me I should only use the blue badge if the disabled person is with me. There have been a number of responses to being told it is MY badge, including "what nonsense, young people aren't disabled!" Re: No Parking
by
H
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 01:29 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
there should be a criminal offence of obstructing any emergency service personnel or vehicles then you could call the police and have the vehicle removed AND give them a hefty fine to get it back AND possibly put them in jail! But there's probably some pink and fluffy people out there who would think that's wrong. But maybe I'm just in a bad mood today.
Re: Re: No Parking
by
Goodgrief
on Sat 23 Sep 2006 03:51 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
What a fab idea, unfortunately most of the police round here seem to park in the ambulance and disabled spaces as they "may need to respond to other jobs" but it often transpires that the ambulances can't unload because of the disabled car that is parked in the ambulance bay because the police car is parked in the disabled bay...hell does that make any sense? Oh well moan and groan over!!!
Re: Re: Re: No Parking
it's daft, isn't it?
"Ambulances Only", as per the photo on Tom's other post, says "Ambulances Only" and means "Ambulances Only". It does NOT mean "Ambulances, oh, and disabled people, and people who are only going to be five minutes, and people who are in a hurry..." Just like "blue badge holders only", it doesn't mean "...and those who are temporarily incapacitated, or feeling a bit off and don't want to walk that far, and people who've got stuff to carry, and parents with young children..." it means those who are displaying a blue badge. Nor, as you say, does it mean policemen waiting for a job. Everyone is convinced that their reason for breaking rules is a good and valid one. So far I've seen one comment about a life-and-death emergency where, yes, any and all rules go utterly out of the window. Apart from situations like that, it's just laziness and being inconsiderate. Re: No Parking
at the hospital near me (harrogate) people seem to think the entrance to A and E is a waiting area for taxis......not good
Re: No Parking
by
paperpusher
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 01:38 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
If I were not such a coward, or maybe taller than my 5'2" and therefore able to deal with their response, I would ask for their autograph. ‘Special’ people fascinate me. You know the ones who can smoke in no-smoking areas, park in disabled spots while they run into a nearby shop, talk on their mobile phones in the quiet carriages of trains and to whom the concept of queuing is an alien one.
I wouldn't want to cough in their faces, key their cars or throw the phone out the window but I'm tempted to carry a radioactive source and put pay to any progeny... Re: Re: No Parking
by
Goodgrief
on Sat 23 Sep 2006 03:54 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
on your subject of special people, we are looking to start "Window-Lickers.com" for all those special people who feel the need to press their faces right upto the window of the bus or car that they are in as they rubber neck past us at jobs on the roadside. We want to take their pictures and put them on a website. The best one will win the coveted title of "Window-Licker of the Month"...one problem, is taking pics of these people a breach of their human rights...and will it get us fired when someone complains? Answers on a postcard to ...
Phil Re: Re: Re: No Parking
by
snowdropEMT
on Sat 23 Sep 2006 07:39 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hey Phil,
Can anyone subscribe to this new venture? Out here in a very wild and rural county we have the same problem. You could possibly do a sub-section on "Ass-Lickers" (and no I'm not being rude!!!)..... Recently attending at a very serious RTC manoevering poorly patient on spinal board (a genuine scoop'n'run) and I got my "Ass-licked" by a passing rubbernecking motorists wing mirror!!!!! and no this is not the first time it's happened !!!!!!! (because of the often very rural locations around here we are regularly on scene before any of the other Emergency services and can find ourselves alone dealing with patient(s), and scene safety. I've lost count of the number of times I've had impatient road users trying to squeeze their vehicle past us in the middle of utter chaos and carnage, just so they can get home for their tea!!) Snowdrop ;0) Re: Re: Re: Re: No Parking
by
Goodgrief
on Mon 25 Sep 2006 06:57 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi Snowdrop
Yes you should be able to...will let you know when its sorted! I may need a partner in crime! Get in touch! Arse lickers...hmm interesting new thread is forming!!! Phil Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No Parking
by
snowdropEMT
on Tue 26 Sep 2006 09:38 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hey Phil,
You just let me know eh? (About being partners in grime Oopps crime that is.....) just slightly concerned about this whole nuther thread regarding "Ass Licking" ????? You weren't being rood were you?? Snowdrop ;0) Re: No Parking
by
Dan
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 01:53 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Carving... not necessarily.
I admit a couple of times I left my car in the ambulance unloading area in my hospital, but I was carrying some of my patients. A few times I have been "valeted" by some of the Security people who know me and my battered Fiat Panda... Anyway, I'd suggest either a sticker, possibly printed on lbel paper, reeeeally more difficult to remove than plastic ones, or a fake parking ticket. The label gives no permanent damage, thus... After all, if the anti 4x4 can do this why not you? Andrea Re: Re: No Parking
Carrying patients can't be good for you. I would suggest parking in the car/taxi parking/drop-off area (as opposed to the emergency ambulance strip), fetching a hospital wheelchair, and using that to transfer your patients.
Re: No Parking
I just block them in! Always amusing to see a 'special' person stuck in their car, waiting to leave, but surrounded by empty ambulances.
It used to be even more fun doing transfers to Whitechapel and parking at the 'main' entrance. Always lined with cars; one way system; leave the ambulance outside the door and no one's going anywhere for half and hour!!! "bl**dy amublance drivers" Is the 'main' entrance still a nightmare? Haven't been there for a while. Re: Re: No Parking
by
jakeyas
on Sun 24 Sep 2006 11:00 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
We block them in all the time, great fun, should be a recognised sport. Even better when it's a Taxi.
At another hospital we visit it's necessary to reverse into the bays to unload. A car (no blue/orange badge) was in the next to last bay so we pulled across in front and unloaded. I was next to attend so as my mate booked in the Pt I replaced the cot etc and waited in the front. Bloke who owned the car came back and got very arsey about being blocked in (pretty obvious it was an ambulance bay as he had these big yellow nee nahs either side of him) and came marching over and ordered me to move. Told him I'd love to but my mate had the keys and would be back in a minute. He stomped off back to his car and started the engine and drove forwards so he was nearly touching my door. So I sent matey a text and told him to take his time, get a coffee etc. By the time he came back the bloke was apoplectic and had been given a ticket by the security staff!!! Oh happy day.................... Re: No Parking
by
Elenfair
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 02:37 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Here's a passive-aggressive solution for you...
Hand-write some notes on the back of paper you would normally have in the ambulance with you (blank forms, what-have-you...) Write something along the lines of: "My patient died because of you. Next time, park you $!@! car somewhere else, asshole!" Then, hide in the bushes and observe their reaction. Re: Re: No Parking
by
Goodgrief
on Sat 23 Sep 2006 03:57 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
My wife got given some notes like this that simply read:
"Thanks for parking like an a$$hole, next time please leave me a can opener so I can get out" These have been left on several cars in car parks to the extent i think we've run out...sorry if you had one placed on your car!!! Phil Re: No Parking
maybe you could just pretend that the cars that are parked there all belong to people who have actually driven in-labor moms-to-be to the hospital instead of using you as a materna-taxi! that way, you'll be less inclined to say, bash their windows in with a tire iron. completely, 100% not true, i know, but sometimes we must delude ourselves to get through the day.
Re: No Parking
Things aren't always what they seem. I parked in the ambulance bay outside A & E at a well known NW London teaching hospital. I had also crossed red lights on the way. I had been following the ambulance in which my late husband was suspended.
If I had found that someone had 'keyed' my car while I was there, it wouldn't have helped. I know a lot of people take liberties, but these days I tend to give people the beneift of the doubt. Re: Re: No Parking
This is exacly why I don't cause a fuss, because you never know...
(And knowing my luck I'd get completely the wrong vehicle) Re: Re: Re: No Parking
by
Goodgrief
on Sat 23 Sep 2006 04:00 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Ditto and got the t-shirt!
It does fill me with dread tho, when the day comes when a relative does cross a red light and involved in an accident whilst trying to follow me into hospital under blues and twos. I do try and ask them not to do it but often to no avail. Re: No Parking
by
Sue
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 05:37 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
That used to drive me mad when I worked in A&E. I was forever telling the ambulance guys to drive into the side of the cars! One day some woman came up to the desk moaning that she was parked in the disabled bay and some car had blocked her in. I pointed out that she was actually in the "emergency staff" space. Turned out the car belonged to our consultant who had been called in (in was a Sat) to deal with a peadiatric resus, he was willing to go out and move the car, but I told him not to and went back to the woman and took great pleasure in telling her it would be at least an hour before she was going anywhere!
Re: No Parking
by
Vic
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 06:13 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Mob rule? They sure won't do it again.
What's the point of having these notices if security can't enforce the rules? Now if you put it in the hands of a firm of clampers... Re: No Parking
I take pictures of cars that are parked on the pavement so that wheelchairs/pushchairs/mobility scooters can't get past, or who have parked on dropped kerbs that I need to use (particularly in areas where they are few and far between and I have to do a 150metre detour to find another one), or who are in disabled spots with no blue badge. I usually take a couple of shots making sure to show (a) the problem parking and (b) the numberplate.
Quite a few irate people, often passengers who have been left in the car, have got out and started demanding what I'm doing, the car is properly taxed, etc... but so far none of them have had it in them to hit a disabled woman ;-) For my part, I haven't actually posted any of my pictures to the net or sent them to the police or the department of transport or anything, I just like to think that the people seeing me take the photos might think twice in future. Re: Re: No Parking
Which is exactly what I did to the kids 'hoaxing' me a few posts back.
Great minds and all that. Re: No Parking
I'm probably completely wrong, but can't they just drive slightly further, up to the lights, chuck two lefts and come round the back of A&E? With all the motor bikes parked down the middle, where everyone stands for a smoke? And its not like there isn't a million and three side streets for longer parking later on.
Maybe just a picture of you pulling your hair out going absolutely nutso underneath the no entry sign would do the job Tom. |
Welcome to Random Acts Of Reality, a Blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service. Also, number one search result for "Womble porn". All names have be changed to protect the guilty. This Blog was previously known as "Why I Hate Humanity" but the antipsychotic medication seems to have kicked in.
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