Car towed after neighbour parks in paramedic's disabled space and refuses to move

A former paramedic has recalled a time when he asked for a man’s car to be towed because he refused to move out of his neighbour’s disabled parking space and was restricting access for emergency services.

The man had allegedly been involved in a feud with his neighbour over parking spaces for a period of time and was known for parking in the disabled space – despite having been sent multiple letters and parking fines from his local council.

The parking row came to a head when the neighbour fell over in their home and needed an ambulance to take them to hospital.

The unnamed paramedic shared the story in a post on Reddit. He said that when he and his colleague arrived at the house, they found that the disabled parking space blocked.

The man had also parked a second car across his neighbour’s driveway. He wrote: “We got a call to a house where there was a bariatric patient who had fallen.

“The patient was morbidly obese and weighed around 30 stone. This story isn’t really about them though. There are many reasons people get to this size and I’ve never judged, only helped.

“No, the problem here was a really arrogant neighbour we had come across before, and boy was this chap a judgemental moron. Our patient had a car and a disabled parking permit. They also had a council-designated disabled parking spot outside their home which the neighbour kept parking in.”

They continued: “There had been a number of letters from the council regarding this and a number of parking fines just served to annoy this chap even more.

“On the day of the story, I took the call that the patient had fallen and we went to the house.

Paramedics called for the car to be towed

“Sure enough, the neighbour was not only parked in the disabled spot but had parked a second car blocking access to the patient’s driveway. I assessed the patient and suspected they had a broken hip, so needed to go in.

“I sent my colleague round to the neighbour to ask them to move the cars and when they came back I was told the neighbour had just told my colleague to ‘do one’.

“No problem, time to get the message home. I radioed through to our control centre and asked for the fire service and police. We needed the fire service to help lift the guy and the police to do a little parking control.”

When the fire service arrived, the paramedics explained to them what was going on. They also went to ask the neighbour to move his cars, and were given a similar answer.

After determining the patient’s life was “at risk” without treatment, the fire crew stepped in to help in whatever way they could – as they used their fire engine to force the cars out of the way.

The paramedic added: “The fire service was the first to arrive and I spoke to the crew commander to let them know what the situation was. A fireman went to the house to ask the neighbour to move the car and was told the same as my colleague.

A stock ambulance image

“The message was relayed back and the watch commander just asked me one question. ‘Is the patient’s life at risk?’. I knew exactly where this was going and it was time our thoughtless neighbour got the message. My answer was ‘Yes, there is equipment I need to get into the house and the driveway is blocked, preventing me from doing so’.

“The watch commander told the fire engine driver to ‘move those vehicles’. It was really satisfying to see both vehicles being pushed down the road by the fire service, and the look on the neighbour’s face as he came out spitting and screaming was well worth seeing.

“His complaints to the police fell on deaf ears, they were well aware of his history of obstruction and my clinical assessment that the patient’s life was in danger was more than enough justification for the vehicles to be moved.”

Unfortunately, the paramedic ended their post by stating the patient passed away in hospital a few months after the parking incident but said their neighbour’s reaction did “bring a smile to their face” as they were being wheeled out of their home.

He explained: “I doubt it made our patient’s life any easier and sadly they died a few months later without leaving the hospital, but it really did bring a smile to their face as we wheeled them out.”