Man dies after neighbour leaves angry note on ambulance telling paramedics 'Don't park on my drive'

'You may be saving lives, but don't park your van in a stupid place and block my drive'

The note was left on the ambulance's windscreen as paramedics attended to a dying patient (Tasha Starkey)

A disgruntled neighbour left a note criticising paramedics' parking as they fought to save the life of a critically ill man who later died.

The handwritten message, left on an ambulance windscreen, read: "You may be saving lives, but don't park your van in a stupid place and block my drive."

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) staff were responding to an emergency call in Birmingham when the note was left on their vehicle.

The 42-year-old patient was vomiting blood and suffering major internal bleeding.

Tasha Starkey, one of the paramedics who responded to the call, tweeted a picture of the note, said to have shocked and saddened ambulance staff.

She wrote: "Crew alerted an extremely poorly patient to hospital... minimal on scene time, arrive at hospital to find this note... this patient was TIME-CRITICAL."

In a statement posted on social media, WMAS said: "Sometimes we just don't know quite what to say. This was the note left on one of ambulances today.

"At the time, the crew were helping a man who was extremely unwell after vomiting a lot of blood. They assessed his condition and immediately took him on blue lights to hospital where he was in a critical condition.

"Our staff will always try and park considerately, but sometimes, there just isn't time."

It added: "Patients come first."

The ambulance was said to have been parked for 30 minutes while its crew attended to the man, who fell ill at Livingstone House, a charity and rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol addicts in the Small Heath area of the city.

Sam Grimson, a paramedic clinical team mentor for the ambulance service, said: "The crew were not on scene long due to how poorly the patient was.

"We always try to park appropriately but sometimes it it not possible."

The note prompted disbelief and condemnation on social media, where it was shared thousands of times.

One Twitter user said: "Unfortunately there are some very selfish people in this world if are more worried about their drives, than others lives."

Another wrote: "Absolutely awful. Hope he/she never needs an ambulance."

David Francis added: "[WMAS] do a brilliant job... At no point should they have to worry about idiots leaving notes on ambulances."

The service later thanked people for the outpouring of support.

"We still can't believe it, and it appears you can't either," it said. "Leaves us feeling really rather sad."

In a separate incident, WMAS said a motorist had complained to another paramedic crew about their parking as they were treating a cardiac arrest patient.

It said: "Just heard from one of our staff that two crews were treating a cardiac arrest patient today — the most serious case we can attend — and someone banged on the side of the ambulance asking them to move as they couldn't get their car out!

"Sorry, patients come first."