An NHS nurse was given a parking ticket after she pulled over to provide medical assistance to a pensioner who had broken his leg.
Helen Sellers, 49, was tending to the man lying on the ground in Christchurch, Dorset when a traffic warden appeared and slapped a £70 ticket on her car yards away.
And when the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s nurse later challenged the fine officials told her there was no evidence of her good deed.
She is now appealing for any eyewitnesses from the day to come forward to help her appeal.
She also slammed the council in question for a ‘lack of compassion and common sense’.
Ms Sellers, from Farnborough, Hants, was visiting friends in Mudeford when she saw the man collapsed near some steps to the beach.
She stopped her Ford Fiesta on a single yellow line and rushed over to help the casualty who was about 80 metres away.
He had fallen off his bike and was in a lot of pain, with a suspected broken leg.
An ambulance was called but because his condition was not life-threatening there would have been a long delay so a family member came to pick him up and take him to hospital.
Ms Sellers, a mother-of-two, waited with him to provide reassurance and make sure he was comfortable. She estimated she was with him no more than an hour.
Despite the crowd of people gathered around the incident, the traffic warden claimed he did not see the commotion when he issued the ticket.
Ms Sellers said she was solely focused on helping the man so she wasn’t looking around checking her car.
She said: ‘I could see a man on the ground and with my nurse’s training I sort of went into autopilot. It could have been an imminent emergency.
‘I was mindful of not blocking any driveways and pulling over safely, but beyond that I didn’t really think about the car.
‘It was only about 80 metres away. I can’t understand how the traffic warden wouldn’t have seen the crowd and the man on the floor.
‘I was probably with him less than an hour, giving him reassurance, he was in a lot of pain, I suspected it was a fracture. Then somebody took him to hospital.
‘When I got back to my car and saw the ticket I thought “oh really?” but then I just thought it’s annoying and that I would appeal it and explain the situation.
‘I went through all three stages of appeal and thought surely somebody will have a bit of compassion and common sense.
‘I’m a registered nurse, I showed them my card and it’s in my code of conduct to help people where I can but they just said I needed proof.
‘I’m baffled by it.
‘It’s not the cost of the parking ticket, it’s more the principle and the fact I’ve gone to help a member of the public.
‘I was doing a good deed. It’s going to disincentivise members of the public from helping other people. Ok in this instance it wasn’t life-threatening, but it could have been.
‘It’s not a very compassionate approach by the council. I don’t understand the logic, they must just see pound signs.
‘If a member of the public needs assistance, I’m going to stop and help if it’s safe to do so.
‘I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, if the same circumstances happened again, I would do exactly the same again.’
Councillor Richard Herrett, portfolio holder for destination, leisure and commercial operations at BCP Council, said: ‘This decision has been reviewed by an independent tribunal (Traffic Penalty Tribunal) which found there was insufficient evidence to overturn the penalty charge notice.
‘Our team followed the statutory processes when issuing this ticket – with no knowledge of the circumstances – however I recognise, and understand, the questions subsequently raised by Helen.
‘Once a ticket has been issued, the council goes through a defined legal process where motorists are invited to provide evidence of the exceptional circumstances.
‘If this evidence can now be provided, then our team would be happy to look at this case further.’