'Move your van' note left on ambulance in Tunstall Published duration 18 February 2018

image copyright West Midlands Ambulance Service image caption The note was left on an ambulance in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent

A woman left an abusive note on an ambulance dealing with a 999 call, ordering paramedics to "move their van".

The writer said she did not care if "the whole street collapsed" and the crew had "no right to be parked here".

The hand-written message was left on an ambulance in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, earlier.

Operational manager Mike Duggan said the paramedics also received verbal abuse.

He shared an image of the note on Twitter saying he was "very angry".

Paramedic Katie Tudor tweeted Staffordshire Police asking: "Is there anything that can be done about this? It's becoming a regular occurrence."

'Small-minded people'

Ch Insp John Owen replied : "Officers are in the process of speaking to our @OFFICIALWMAS colleagues to obtain the full details from the crews at the scene."

The note concluded with the words "now move your van from outside my house".

One Twitter user replied: "They probably had to write 'van' because they were unable to spell ambulance. Hope they're visited by Staffs Police and prosecuted."

Mr Duggan told the BBC he thinks people who abuse emergency staff need to be dealt with more "robustly".

He said: "What is it going to take? Is one of us going to have to die before they take it seriously?"

West Midlands Ambulance Service's Hazardous Area Response Team also blasted the note.

The team tweeted: "Unfortunately this appears to be acceptable behaviour in some small minded people's minds these days #sadtimes."

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