A community nurse from Dudley is appealing against a parking penalty charge issued while she was treating an acutely sick baby, asking parking bosses 'what if it was your child?'. Lisa Smith, from Woodsetton, was sent to a building in Birmingham to attend a baby in a fifth floor flat and parked her car in a permit only bay. Medical staff are allowed to use the bays for 30 minutes, but the community nurse and a colleague were in the building for an hour and a quarter.
Trapped in a lift during an emergency call
Ms Smith said: "We pulled up, we didn't see any signs but we weren't looking for them because it wasn't flagged up, there is nowhere else to park around there anyway. We went into the building, there was a lift, the doors closed but it didn't move and the doors didn't open. We pressed the buzzer a few times but nobody was answering so we banged on the door, eventually one of the other residents came out, prized the doors open and said it was always happening."
The two medics carried their kit up stairs to the fifth floor by which time Ms Smith, who has a medical condition, was feeling dizzy. The child was too ill for community treatment and was transferred to hospital, the community staff made their way back down the stairs but their visit did not end there.
Helping another resident before leaving
Ms Smith said: "When we got to the bottom of the stairs there was a mum struggling with a pushchair because the lift was still out and she lived on the fifth floor. My colleague helped her to the fifth floor with the pushchair, we were not in the building that long, the majority of the time because we were stuck in the lift."
The 48-year-old mother of one left the parking area and returned the NHS pool car she was using, she was not notified of a parking charge until three months later due to being off work with an illness. By the time she received notification a court order had been issued against Ms Smith in the sum of £266.
MP demands cancellation of the charge
She is appealing against the penalty charge and her case has been taken up by Dudley MP Sonia Kumar. Ms Kumar said: "The lifts were broken. She climbed five floors to reach her patient. And for that, she is now facing court action, it's not good enough. I have asked the company to look at the facts and cancel this charge. Nurses should be able to do their jobs without this hanging over them."
Ms Smith added: "It is really stressful I could end up with a county court judgement. I was just doing my job, basically I just want to ask them what would you do if it was your kid? If I had to park a long way away and had to carry my kit, what would they expect me to do in that situation?"
Ms Kumar has written to Civil Enforcement Ltd, the company taking Ms Smith to court, asking for penalty charges to be cancelled to resolve any court proceedings, put any enforcement action on hold while the case is reviewed and explain why the permit and free parking was not taken into account.
