A week ago I was responding to a potential suicide. I admit I parked on double yellow lines whilst I ran to the individual's door and awaited the arrival of medics. It took them almost 20 minutes to arrive. When I returned I had a lovely �30 ticket. Despite the fact I had a large clergy card in the window, bearing the name and address of the church and my mobile number. I have two of these cards - one says FUNERAL the other says EMERGENCY. I often get called by the police to attend emergencies and when I do, there are times when I again park on double lines as I attend the situation - sometimes an impending death, or to collect immediate details so that I can do an emergency family visit to advise. Yes, I owe the �30, but I was a bit disappointed that whoever issued the ticket didn't consider assessing the situation by either waiting a few minutes or at least phoning to see what I was up to.
Perhaps it was the same person who didn't have any training on how to jump into a pond to save a child's life... crum!
'No good deed goes unpunished!'
Fr Bill