Gavin Blake displayed the pay-and-display ticket after landing the helicopter in a car park in Norwich (Picture: Gavin Blake)

If you’re part of the emergency services, there’s certain laws you don’t need to follow if you’re on a rescue mission.

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Like displaying a valid parking ticket.

But this pilot didn’t let his job get in the way of abiding by the law while attending an incident near a Co-op store in Norwich.

Gavin Blake, who is a friend of Prince William’s, bought a pay-and-display ticket for his helicopter after landing it in a town centre car park, at around 6.30pm on Monday, where a teenager had been stabbed.


He was transporting paramedics attending to an incident involving a teenager being stabbed nearby (Picture: SWNS)

After displaying it on the helicopter’s windscreen, he then checked on the paramedics who were attending to the teen.



Sharing a picture of his ticket on Twitter, he later jokingly wrote: ‘You can’t say we don’t pay our way at East Anglian Air Ambulance.’

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Cllr James Wright, who spotted Gavin buying the ticket, said: ‘I’d sort of followed the air ambulance circling to land.

‘I’d seen it land in the car park and I just happened to notice the pilot go across the car park and purchase a pay and display ticket.

‘The paramedics were off doing their thing and it was a moment of down time for the pilot in what is an extremely stressful job.

Gavin is a friend of Prince William’s (Picture: Gavin Blake)

‘We all look for ways we can find some fun.’

A spokesman for the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service said the pilot was just having a bit of ‘light-hearted fun’ and would not usually need to pay to park.

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He told Cambridge News: ‘The crews get tasked to life threatening accidents all the time. We think it’s good to have a balanced approach to life.

‘It was just him having a joke.’

The teen was taken to hospital and suffered a leg and back injury but is in a stable condition.

Prince William has been flying with the air ambulance from its Cambridge base since 2015, and is expected to be leaving the post in summer.