Woman, 26, pleads guilty to abusing paramedics and leaving foul-mouthed note as they responded to emergency

Kirsty Sharman, from Tunstall in North Staffordshire, pleaded guilty at North Staffordshire Justice Centre this afternoon.

The arrest of the 26 year old followed a plea by West Midlands Ambulance Service staff who reported at the weekend how colleagues had found a hand-written note from an irate resident complaining that the vehicle was parked outside their house.

Chief Inspector John Owen, said: "We will not tolerate abuse or intimidation of our emergency services.

"This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will take appropriate action against offenders.

"The arrest relates to matters of verbal abuse that could constitute offences under the Public Order Act. This is not solely about the note."

The woman, from Tunstall, was arrested on Sunday at about 10pm and is in custody suspected of a section four public order offence.

Paramedic mentor Katie Tudor posted a picture of the note on Twitter, copying in the police.

The note read: "If this van is for anyone but Number 14 then you have no right to be parked here.

"I couldn't give a s**** if the whole street collasped (sic). Now move your van from outside my house."

The ambulance was responding to a 999 call in the Tunstall area of Stoke-on-Trent at the time.

Ms Tudor, who said the crew in question had also been verbally abused, used Twitter to draw the note to the attention of Staffordshire Police Chief Constable Gareth Morgan.

Reacting to the news of an arrest, she thanked the force and Mr Owen, who is the local policing commander for the Stoke North area.

Social media users had reacted with disbelief and anger at the note, with one official ambulance service Twitter account commenting "#sadtimes".

Paramedic Karl Williams said: "This is now becoming a disgusting trend."

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “As a Trust we welcome Staffordshire Police’s swift response to this incident and the arrest of the woman. We will continue to work closely with the police to ensure the perpetrator feels the full weight of the law.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards people who abuse our staff whilst trying to help patients in their hour of need. It is completely unacceptable and it must stop.

“As the vast majority of the public will appreciate, in our line of work the patient must always come first and therefore the nature of the job means we do sometimes have to park over a driveway or block a vehicle in. If your loved one needed an ambulance, I’m sure you’d want an ambulance to park as close to them as possible to prevent a delay in their care.

“After previous notes were left on our ambulances last year, we’ve received unimaginable support from the public for which we are immensely grateful. Sadly, as this ambulance crew discovered yesterday, there are unfortunately still a handful of narrow-minded individuals who consider leaving vile abusive notes acceptable.”