A good Samaritan who stopped to help a bleeding pensioner was given a parking ticket by a Scrooge traffic warden.
Lorna Dawson, 60, was driving past when she saw an elderly man who had fallen off a coach and was losing blood on the pavement.
She stopped her Hyundai car about 18ft away from the scene and put on her hazard lights before getting out to help.
But while she was busy helping clean the elderly man’s injuries a traffic warden approached her car a few yards away and slapped a £50 ticket on the windscreen.
After seeing the officious warden she and others ran over to explain the situation but he said he had already issued the ticket.
The warden spoke to his supervisor who agreed there was nothing they could do.
Mrs Dawson claimed the warden ‘definitely’ saw the incident before issuing the penalty in Christchurch, Dorset, on December 21.
She said she was ‘disgusted at the lack of humanity’.
The car park near to where the incident happened in Christchurch, Dorset
Lorna Dawson stopped her Hyundai car about 18ft away from the scene and put on her hazard lights before getting out to help
‘I pulled into the car park by the Regent Centre, my daughter-in-law climbed out with my grandson and I was about to go on and she said ”oh, somebody’s fallen over”,’ she said.
‘So I jumped out of the car and this guy had fallen over and taken two older ladies with him.
‘I dropped everything and ran, put my hazards on and ran across to the coach which was virtually right in front of my car.
‘I cleaned up the poor man and this guy was slapping a parking ticket on my car so I ran over.
‘He didn’t know it was my car, but he could see something had happened and I was parked across, pulled over on the side. I wasn’t in a parking space and I had hazards on.
‘These other people came with me and said ”hang on a minute, you can’t do that. She’s helping somebody who’s just fallen over” and he was like ”oh, well I’ve already issued it”.
‘Even the guy who was injured and still shaken came over to him and was going to say something.
Councillor Richard Herrett said the parking ticket was issued ‘without any knowledge of the incident’ and once it enters a legal process it requires the recipient to appeal the ticket
‘For me the main thing was the way it was done. He spotted the car and jumped on it, issuing the ticket in less than 60 seconds.
‘He definitely would have seen what was happening, I was only about two cars length away. It was really close.
‘He even said he saw there was something going on but he didn’t even try to find out what, he just seized the opportunity to issue a ticket. Everybody just couldn’t believe it.
‘I’m just disgusted at the lack of humanity. I did say to both of them ”I hope to God nothing ever happens to you, because you put me off stopping to help people now”.’
Mrs Dawson appealed the ticket and thankfully common sense prevailed and the fine has now been cancelled.
Councillor Richard Herrett from BCP Council said he wanted to acknowledge the ‘act of kindness’ and that the parking ticket was issued ‘without any knowledge of the incident’ and once it enters a legal process it requires the recipient to appeal the ticket.
