Ambulances blocking the road

[72elan1304]

Personally, 15 mins waiting on without a thought. After that an inconvenience at worst, depending on where I need to be would I go and ask the question. Rudely spoken to, well that's life!

[Titanium S1 111S (gla)]

If it was life and death he would not have answered the door and certainly would not have moved the ambulance. From that I deduce that whatever may have been thought at the stage the ambulance was abandoned an assessment had been carried out and it had been concluded that there was no emergency.

That being the case a polite request to move the ambulance should have been met with a polite response, even if it that you will have to wait. If the driver was rude that is unacceptable. Given that he had time to move the ambulance he had time to be polite and professional.

All that of course is how it should be, these guys have very difficult and stressful jobs. It is quite conceivable that he had just had to tell someone that their nearest and dearest was beyond help. Unless his behaviour was well beyond acceptable I’d be inclined to forget it. If it was really bad then he should be pulled up for it or he will do it again.

As to calling the police, who knows? It may be the right thing to do if the world is being held up and the paramedics are genuinely dealing with a casualty but to call the cops without a polite enquiry as to whether it can be moved seems to me to be wasting police time which is, of course, at a premium.


All just in my opinion of course.

So what is wrong with what I have suggested, no one is dragging paramedics away from bodies to move ambulances.

A reasonable waiting time followed by a polite enquiry is entirely proportionate and appropriate to my mind.

At risk of repeating myself if the paramedic had been too busy I have no doubt that he would have said so. After allowances for stress and difficult situations it has to be kept in mind that these guys are professionals and should behave as such.

[campbell]

Perhaps don't read too much into this folks.

Way I read it, Robin posted an experience. And asked for views from the collective. No rant. No judgement. Albeit, if "very unpleasant" were removed altogether, or replaced with "unusual" or similarly neutral qualifier, would you evaluate the request differently?

Isn't this just one of those odd moral dilemmas, like do you pull out and follow the ambulance which you just let past, cos now it's carving a great swathe through the rush-hour traffic for you!

To answer your question, Robin. No I don't know what the position is. But I imagine I'd have waited a lot longer than if anything else had been obstructing my exit from a dead end street. Would I have chapped the door where I believed the driver to be? Probably. I doubt very much I'd have called the police (as per driver's advice to Katie).

I guess the biggest wrong-foot was the use of hazards rather than blue lights, although from local experiences with our ageing neighbours the drivers tend to put the blues off once stationary unless in dangerous location like an m-way etc.

Would I have expected to be verbally abused after a polite - and patient - enquiry? Nope. No excuse for that IMHO. But now we're getting into opinion, aren't we, and that's not allowed anymore...

[Eric K]

Madness.

I give up.

I am, however, still interested to learn the approximate number of hours that passed by before the door bell was rung.

Cheers,

Eric

[pete]

I know some paramedics. I'll ask them next time I see them.

In my experience people who start shouting in emergencies and stressful situations are not very good in stressful or emergency situations (they have lost focus and their emotions are now in charge.) But then we all have bad days.

Just saying.

[robin]

The point was that having received a rant she wondered if she could have known from the state of the ambulance whether or not it was attending an emergency. I wondered if anybody knew whether there was a way of telling.

That's all.

She waited 10 minutes - in fact she probably would have waited a little longer had there not been cars building up behind her.

Whatever.

[scottishselise]

The point was that having received a rant she wondered if she could have known from the state of the ambulance whether or not it was attending an emergency. I wondered if anybody knew whether there was a way of telling.

That's all.

She waited 10 minutes - in fact she probably would have waited a little longer had there not been cars building up behind her.

Whatever.

This is how I rear the OP - Not "ffs stupid ambulance holding me other half up from getting home to cook/drink wine/whatever".
I would expect them to leave flashing lights on and probably would have done the same. I mean, as you/or someone else said, it was worth finding out because a) he was able to move it, b) what is some other emergency vehicle needed past?

[mikeyb13]

I hope the person survived so that your wife didnt lose a whole ten minutes for nothing. Truely disgusting...

[scottishselise]

I hope the person survived so that your wife didnt lose a whole ten minutes for nothing. Truely disgusting...

Robin is not appearing to be ranting about the time spent waiting.
He is asking about the status of the ambulance as far as I understand.

[r10crw]

I hope the person survived so that your wife didnt lose a whole ten minutes for nothing. Truely disgusting...

Im sorry but there is no need for this kind of crap. Your post does nothing but annoy other users and quite possibly upset the OP. If you read the post properly, at no point has anyone wanted to complain, only wants to find out if there was a way you can tell if the ambulance is attending a critical emergency or just someones gran getting dropped.
On a side note Ive been in several life and death situations and never felt the need to be rude to others where ignorance has been concerned, especially women. Maybe I was just brought up with manners.

[mikeyb13]

Goodbye Se

[Shug]

Wow - lots of totally OTT responses to Robin here. I'm not "standing up for a fellow mod" or any such bollocks but he's not gone on a rant about inconsiderate this and that, he asked a question. His wife appears to have got a torrent of abuse from someone and he's asking if it's totally professional. I completely get the reaction from some (however dramatic) if you don't read the post but Robin wasn't moaning, or looking to complain, he was asking about the deal in situations like this.

I have a sister who was a sister in A&E for 20 years. I know about the emergency services and the pressures they are under on a constant basis. At no stage, do they ever internally think it's okay to go off on a rant at someone. No matter the situation. No matter the pressure - remember, for these guys, what would be a harrowing experience is an everyday one and they cannot and do not react in the same way as a civvie (or they'd all be on anti-depressants)

If you really think it's worth ripping into the genuinely most level headed and consistently helpful guy on this forum for asking a question (not ranting, not accusing) then from my personal, not moderating or 'official' viewpoints, you might want to take a deep breath and read again.

[r10crw]

Robin, this is from Andy a driver from the Aberdeen service. He just took early retirement 6 months back due to personal health issues but I doubt its changed much recenctly.

Essentially there is no way for a member of the public to tell if the attendance is life or death from looking at the vehicle. They generally wont leave lights on etc as this can be annoyance to other residents. Believe it or not but breach of the peace was mentioned! Your only option is to call the ambulance service with the vehicle number and they are obliged to give the latest update as to the nature of the call (Emergency or not).
When given a call from dispatch they are told either number 1 or 999. Number one is non critical in which case you would find suitable parking. With a 999 call he said that he too would block the road immediatly outside the house regardless if there was proper parking. Then he explained that in 99.9% of cases within two minutes you will have assessed if the call is critical or not. In the case of critical the stretcher will be needed to evacuate the patient and it requires two people so the ambulance driver stays in the house at all times. He goes onto state that in this aformentioned case the patient is vacated from the property usually in less than 10 minutes.
In his experience if you had not seen activity inside ten minutes then it would mean the case was non critical and you would expect to see the ambulance moved. He would like the public to have waited 15 to be sure but goes on to say that if there was not time to move the ambulance he would not move it. As a professional he would always behave as such and would not lose his temper regardless of the situation, the driver your wife recieved must have been something of an arse.
He also says that the driver must be aware that there is a risk of getting blocked in due to his parking. He then went onto say that he as a memeber of the public would have acted the same way as your wife right up until she got a mouthfull.
Ill admit that Andy is a little hot headed and a person that speaks his mind but hes and honest guy.

Robin if you would like to speak to Andy let me know and Ill pm his number.

Craig.

[tut]

I hope the person survived so that your wife didnt lose a whole ten minutes for nothing. Truely disgusting...

That is completely out of line, and certainly when you apply it to Robin. Keep comments like that to yourself or find somewhere else to post them.

tut

[Peter]

Robin, this is from Andy a driver from the Aberdeen service. He just took early retirement 6 months back due to personal health issues but I doubt its changed much recenctly................

Craig.

Interesting read, thanks Craig