A parking firm which issued a ticket to an ambulance crew who had temporarily parked on double yellow lines have suspended patrols at the Northwich car park where the incident happened.
Footage of a parking enforcer giving a ticket to protesting ambulance workers who had stopped to buy water from a store has gone viral online after cameraman Ian French filmed the heated exchange.
The video has sparked thousands of outraged comments from members of the public, and has had countless hits online.
Now, LCP Group, who own Kingsmead Square, have suspended patrols and enforcement in the car park, saying they were 'very disappointed' that members of the emergency services had 'an issue' with a parking officer.
A statement by the company read: "As owners of Kingsmead Square, in Northwich, we are of course very disappointed to see that members of the emergency services have had an issue with a parking officer.
"LCP supports all of our emergency services, and their staff and vehicles are regular visitors to our shopping centres and retail parades across the UK, where they are always welcome.
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"We employ Euro Parking Services (EPS) to manage the parking at Kingsmead Square to ensure that everyone that wants to shop can do so without any unnecessary hindrance while using the car park.
"On this occasion, we do not agree with the parking officer’s interpretation of the parking restrictions relating to emergency vehicles. A full review of the EPS contract will be undertaken at this site.
"In the meantime all enforcement and patrols at Kingsmead Square have been stopped and EPS will not be visiting site again pending completion of the review."
The attendant works for Birmingham-based firm Euro Parking Services.
In a statement Adrian Nesbitt, HR manager for the firm, said: “It is a mistake on our part, we will contact the ambulance service to offer our apologies and put together a full training package to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“The ambulance service is very important to our community, we don’t want to hinder them and we’re very saddened by the situation.”
A spokeswoman for NWAS said: “We are aware of the video circulating on social media showing a traffic warden issuing a ticket to one of our ambulance crews in Kingsmead, Cheshire.
“As yet, we are unaware of whether or not the parking ticket has been issued or is being waived and will deal with this matter once we have further details.”
Read more about the full incident here
