A van driver has written an apology after obstructing an ambulance on an emergency call in Brighton.
At about 10.30am on Friday 13 February the ambulance was on a call to reports of a baby fitting and trying to get through traffic in Buckingham Road.
A Mercedes Sprinter van was double parked and blocking the way, stopping the ambulance from passing. The ambulance was sounding its sirens and then sounded its horn several times to the alert the van to its need to get through.
The driver came back to his van but refused to move and told the ambulance to go round another way.
After trying to reason with the driver, he eventually slowly moved his van while swearing at the ambulance crew.
The driver was identified by the registration details from the van and he was contacted.
The ambulance crew member asked for the issue to be dealt with by community resolution and the driver to donate £100 to the Trevor Mann Baby Unit.
The 37-year-old Littlehampton man admitted the offence and wrote a letter apologising for his behaviour.
Inspector Brian McCarthy said: “This man’s behaviour was totally unacceptable and he has admitted it. It’s very satisfying to be able to resolve this case in this way which suited everyone involved.”
That baby could have died!
i can’t believe what sort of person would do this , I hope the poor baby is ok and the police gives him everything he deserves £100 in my eyes isn’t good enough ,it could of been a baby’s life ..
I disagree pretty strongly with “Inspector Brian McCarthy” I’m afraid. The sentence appears preposterously lenient. A driver behaving like this is clearly seriously out of control and deserves a driving ban and to retake his test. £100 is trivial and probably less than he made on the job he was attending. It’s likely he’ll do it again and next time the consequences could be fatal. The inspector’s comment almost reads like an allusion to some kind of backhander having been accepted.