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Building staff tries to stop air ambulance crew responding to call

A saleswoman told the helicopter crew they couldn’t “park” onsite while they were rushing to get to a heart attack patient

By EMS1 Staff

WARWICKSHIRE, England — An air ambulance crew who was rushing to treat a heart attack patient was told they had to move their helicopter by a staff member from the building.

Daily Mail reported that the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance landed at a housing development to resuscitate a man who had collapsed.

While treating the patient, a salesperson rushed outside to tell them they could not “park” the helicopter on the site because it was against health and safety rules.

Bystanders also witnessed the woman trying to prevent the crew from lifting up a fence to get to the patient.

“For a saleswoman to obstruct the crew getting to the emergency is appalling,” witness Michael Bunting said. “And when the crew couldn’t get through the fencing she told the crew not to pull it out.”

Bunting said he and a few other bystanders helped the crew get through by lifting the fence.

“The saleswoman was telling them, ‘You can’t come through here,’ so we lifted the fence and she was constantly on them, ‘You can’t park there, who do you think you are?’” Bunting added. “I said, ‘If that was a loved one of yours, you’d want every second to count.’”

Persimmon Homes, the company who owned the development site, defended the salesperson.

“At no point would any of our staff obstruct the emergency services, however, it is critical that our staff raise any concerns for public safety,” director Neil Williams said. “The air ambulance landed on a working construction site that was closed to the public and while we understand that was necessary to access the patient our staff observed that the landing area, which was a locked off area, contained hazardous materials that needed to be re-secured in order to prevent public access or any danger to existing residents.”

The patient was transported to the hospital in an ambulance and is in stable condition.

https://www.facebook.com/WNDLRAirAmbulance/posts/1844083905625885

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