This paramedic received a note complaining about him parking in the middle of the road trying to save a life

If it weren’t for the emergency services, the world would undoubtedly be a scarier place. These people are responsible for stopping crimes and saving lives, whether you’ve been injured in an accident or are trapped in a blaze. It’s not easy having responsibilities like this resting on your shoulders, but they don’t let that pressure get to them. They can’t afford to in a profession like this.
In most cases, someone working for the emergency services will always put the lives of others ahead of themselves. After all, it’s their job to keep people safe and care for them if they’re hurt. However, when you’re trying to save someone’s life, you can’t always do it without causing some inconvenience to others.
For instance, when paramedics respond to an emergency call, they don’t always have time to park somewhere that’s suitable for everyone. Their concerns are on the person needing emergency assistance, not their neighbors. Unfortunately, not everyone is understanding of that. Chris James Nixon found that when he responded to an emergency call and upset one of the locals by parking in the middle of the road.

No time to waste

When you’re a paramedic, time is of the essence. As soon as a call comes in, every second counts, which is why ambulances are always given the right of way. The quicker they reach the scene, the likelier it is they’ll be successful in treating their patient.

However, it seems that some people don’t appreciate the needs of the paramedics to save lives.

Dedicated to the cause

Chris James Nixon is just one of apparently 19,000 paramedics currently working in the United Kingdom. He and thousands of others have put in endless hours of training so they can dedicate their lives to saving others. The man has chosen an incredibly selfless career path, and it’s likely he’s already been responsible for stopping hundreds of people from losing their lives. Of course, Nixon – who lives in Tynemouth, England – isn’t looking for glory.

He loves his job, and all that matters to him is that he can help people get the treatment they need. That’s why when he picked up an emergency call on that fateful day, he wasn’t thinking about what saving another life would mean to him. He was too focused on reaching the scene as quickly as possible and providing the necessary treatment before it was too late. His eyes were firmly on the prize.

Middle of the road

As soon as the ambulance pulled up at the scene, Chris jumped out of the vehicle and hurried to his patient. He ran through his usual procedure, carrying out all the necessary tests to see whether or not his charge needed to be rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, his ambulance sat abandoned in the middle of the road with no sign that anyone was coming to drive it away. Typically, if people saw a vehicle like this sitting there, they’d understand that someone in the area was currently receiving emergency treatment.

Although the ambulance might have been inconveniently parked, they’d know better than to start complaining. After all, someone’s life could be hanging in the balance. However, not everyone is that considerate of other people. One resident found themselves inconvenienced by Nixon’s rushed parking job and they weren’t willing to keep their outrage bottled up.

Venting their anger

It seems that with Chris’ ambulance being in the middle of the road, this resident wasn’t able to park in their driveway. The paramedic hadn’t thought about who he’d be obstructing when he ditched the vehicle – he was too concerned about responding to the emergency call. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an excuse that the resident was willing to accept. The ambulance was stopping them from getting home, and they weren’t going to take that lying down.

Of course, they weren’t willing to approach Nixon in person and tell them to move their vehicle. No, instead they opted to hide behind an angry notice that they attached to the windshield. Clearly, they knew they were in the wrong for criticizing a paramedic who was responding to an emergency, hence why they avoided face-to-face contact. However, what difference would a note make if Chris wouldn’t see it until he left the scene anyway?

Reading the note

When the paramedic stumbled upon the note, he was understandably caught off guard. He’d just done some good in the world by responding to that emergency, and here someone was trying to criticize him for it. Chris knew his parking spot hadn’t been the most suitable choice, but there hadn’t been an opportunity for him to find anywhere more convenient. If there had, it wouldn’t have been an emergency, and he wouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Of course, the enraged resident didn’t care about that. All that mattered to them was that Nixon had stopped them from being able to park in their driveway. They told the paramedic that his behavior was appalling and that there was no need for him to park in the road. They also informed him that they’d taken photos of the incident, although what they planned to do with them wasn’t clear.

Leaving a sour taste

Chris was surprised and appalled that someone would leave a note like this on his ambulance. He ended up saving a woman’s life that day thanks to his speedy response, and this was the thanks he got for it. He understood why someone would be angered by not being able to get home, but that didn’t justify writing him a note.

After all, if Nixon had to choose between saving someone’s life and letting another person park in their driveway, he’d pick the former every time.

Backing him up

As many people do nowadays, Chris took to social media to share what had happened with the world. He was outraged by this person’s rudeness, and he wanted to show his followers the kind of things he has to deal with at work. His responsibilities are already hard enough as it is without having someone else give him unnecessary attitude.

Thankfully, most of the people who saw Nixon’s picture of the note sided with him and agreed that the perturbed resident was entirely in the wrong.

Race against time

When you see an ambulance, you probably assume that the person receiving assistance is in a bad way. Although that’s not necessarily always the case, it was in this instance. Apparently, the girl that Chris was treating was in a particularly bad state, and he had to call on the Hazardous Area Response Team to treat her properly.

They’d actually been helping Nixon in the ambulance when the note had been posted on the front of the vehicle. Understandably, they were too preoccupied with their work to notice it.

Can’t please everyone

Although paramedics are often compelled to park as quickly as possible, they do try to take everyone else’s needs into consideration. They don’t typically park in the middle of the road, but sometimes there’s no other choice. Maybe there’s no space on the sidewalk to leave the vehicle, or the patient requires assistance as soon as possible.

Each situation is different and depends on a variety of factors. However, it shouldn’t matter where the paramedics park because more consideration should go to the people requiring emergency help.

No other option

Before long, the photo of the note was being shared all over the internet, and people were giving their opinions on the matter. Most of them understood Nixon’s frustrations, especially the ones who’d had to receive help from a paramedic before.

They knew that Chris had responded the way he thought was best because someone’s life was on the line. If he’d parked further away, he faced the risk of not treating the patient on time and ultimately having her blood on his hands. This was his only option.

Teaching them a lesson

In response to the note, some people told Chris that he should return to the scene and park his ambulance in front of the person’s driveway to really upset him. They thought it would teach the angered resident that when dealing with an emergency, convenience takes a backseat.

Of course, these people were joking, and they knew that Nixon wouldn’t do something like this. Despite how he may have felt reading the note, he couldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of acting professionally and doing his job.

Check your spelling

With many people angered by the note, they couldn’t help but bring up all the mistakes the writer had made when venting their frustrations. Writing things like “appealing” and “you” when they should have put “appalling” and “your” respectively really touched a nerve with some online users.

They believed that if this resident had time to take photos and write a note to Nixon, they could have at least ensured that they spelled everything correctly. After all, these mistakes just weaken the point they were trying to make.

Making people aware

By posting the picture of the note online, Chris wasn’t trying to drum up a lot of hate towards the unknown writer. Instead, he was simply trying to make everyone aware of all the extra pressures he had to deal with. Responding to that emergency and saving the girl’s life had taken a lot of effort, but he didn’t get a chance to appreciate what he’d done.

Instead, he’d immediately come crashing down from his high because someone had taken offense to the way he’d parked the ambulance.

Extra responsibilities

Unfortunately, this is all just part of the job. Paramedics already have a ton on their plate thanks to their many responsibilities, from reaching an emergency quickly to providing excellent medical care. However, dealing with angry residents is something else they have to be prepared for, especially as it happens more than you might think.

For some reason, people just don’t have the respect for the emergency services that they should. They’re out there saving lives every day, but apparently, that means nothing once they park in the wrong place.

Just one of many

Nixon is far from the only paramedic to experience this kind of unnecessary hatred while on the job. Many others in his position have received similar notes, while some have even had people get aggressive to their face. It’s not hard to find stories of this stuff online from paramedics who were just as upset and angry as Chris.

That should give you a good idea of how frequently this stuff happens, despite all the good that the emergency services do for us every day.

Abusing her team

Another paramedic who’s seen this kind of abuse is Katie Tudor who’s assigned to the West Midlands Ambulance Service. In this instance, it wasn’t Katie who actually received the note but rather a member of her crew. However, it was Tudor who took to social media to share the story of what had happened.

She was shocked and disgusted that someone would write such a vicious note on an ambulance, and she wanted people to see the kind of abuse that her team has to deal with regularly.

That’s my spot

The author of this note didn’t hold back when they vented their frustration. It seems that the ambulance had parked outside number 14, and the owner of the house didn’t appreciate having their driveway blocked off. In their note, they informed the ambulance crew that they only had the right to park there if they were attending to someone in the house.

They also told the paramedics that they didn’t care if the whole street was collapsing, that still didn’t justify them leaving the van where they did.

Being unreasonable

Unsurprisingly, Tudor was pretty angry when she saw the note. The ambulance hadn’t even been blocking the road, so it wasn’t like people couldn’t maneuver around the vehicle. Besides, the needs of someone requiring emergency medical assistance should surely come before a person and their parking spot.

Katie couldn’t believe her team was having to deal with something like this, although at the same time, she wasn’t hugely surprised. As we said, paramedics receiving abuse from angered residents is unfortunately nothing new, despite how ridiculous it is.

Revenge is sweet

Luckily for Katie, she ended up getting justice for the whole ordeal. Shortly after the situation went down, Kirsty Sharman – the woman who wrote the note – was arrested. It seems that the 26-year-old wasn’t new to causing trouble as she was convicted for breaching a restraining order.

She was also charged with a Public Order offense, leaving her feeling pretty red-faced. The funny thing is that Sharman doesn’t even have a car. She got angry with the paramedics for taking her spot, despite not being able to park there herself.

Getting their attention

Although most of these angered residents have left notes for the paramedics, one person took things a step further when they got enraged. It seems that the person needed to get their car out of their driveway, but the ambulance was blocking the way.

Rather than waiting for the emergency services to do their job then be on their way, they banged on the side of the vehicle to get their attention. Understandably, this caught the paramedics by surprise as they were currently in the ambulance treating a patient.

No concern for others

Of course, the paramedics were too busy dealing with their emergency to respond. Their patient was in cardiac arrest, and if they didn’t give them their full attention, things wouldn’t end well. Unfortunately, the resident didn’t care about that because their driveway was blocked.

So, like everyone else, they wrote a note for the paramedics that was once again attached to the windshield. The resident made it clear they didn’t care that the emergency services were doing their job and saving lives because their needs obviously came before everyone else’s.

They got this

Sadly, it doesn’t look like paramedics will be having an easier job of it anytime soon. There will always be people who are so wrapped up in what they’re doing that they can’t think about what others might be going through.

However, if paramedics weren’t prepared to deal with hardships like these, they wouldn’t have joined the emergency services in the first place. After all, it’s not the kind of job you take on if you can’t handle things when they get a little difficult.