Currently blocked in by police car

[lasangoles]

Police are visiting someone on my street for some reason and have parked behind me in my very long narrow drive. Haven't asked if they can park there. Lots of space on the road to park however they would be on double yellows. If I needed to go anywhere, I wouldn't be able to move. No idea which house they're in. I need to go out in 35 minutes for a flu jab appointment. I know they could be dealing with a serious emergency but no idea why they're parked on my drive! WIBU to drive very slowly backwards and gently nudge their car off my drive? (Only kidding). Slightly miffed. Should I try and find them and ask them to move?

We done for. proportional response OP. Sorry you missed your jab. Maybe if you speak to the pharmacy and show them the pic of police car, they'll squeeze you in another day or put you on a 'in case of cancellation' list.

I used to work in a shop and we used to let the police use our staff parking, toilets, tea room etc. as we valued the job they do and wanted to make their life easier. I understand the OP being miffed and calling non-emergency number was a sensible thing to do. I can't imagine being 'livid' about police parking in an inconvenient place while doing their job.

Ok @frumpety carry on if you must. In flats it's even more important to be close. But you have your little moment if it makes you feel better.

@Alwaysinpain 😂

@Alwaysinpain An English forum? Really?

You’re having a flu jab after 6pm in a Sunday? Where?

Yabu because you could have knocked on next doors house and asked the police to move the car so you could get to your appointment. No need for all the drama or the missed appointment

@redhelenb what drama?

@BumbleFlump
From earlier in the thread:

"Genuinely did have a flu jab booked. I must be really lucky round here as there are a couple of pharmacies I know of that are doing tonnes of jabs extended hours. I thought this was happening everywhere."

HTH

Not explaining again where I was having a flu jab on a Sunday! 😅

It could just be that the had nowhere else to park and were in a hurry.

They had the entire road to park in on the double yellows.

I love the naivety of people assuming the visit must have been serious as the police took a long time. They are just as likely to have taken a long time because they were chatting over a cup of tea. Round where I am, it's extraordinary how we always hear sires at the same time every day which just happens to coincide with official changes of shifts.

I work in the police control room and part of my job is answering 101 calls - you did the right thing to ring and they shouldn't have parked there!
Putting in a complaint wouldn't be wrong either, you were inconvenienced and the officers might need a word from their sergeant. Trust me, people complain about much less.

Interesting fact - dialling 911, in England at least - does actually get you through to the 999 line. As does 112 which a lot of people mistake for the non-emergency number when it's actually a Europe-wide number for the emergency services in whatever country you happen to be in.

[quote lasangoles]@jorisbonson the whole street is double yellows and there is nobody parked there. Imagine if I had a night shift to go to or had a child to pick up.

I'm on hold to the police station. [/quote]
But you don’t 🙄
Police dispatcher here, if they are in a position to move it, they will. If they aren’t in a position to move it, they’re dealing with something they can’t leave.

Interesting fact - dialling 911, in England at least - does actually get you through to the 999 line

Well i'll be!, was told it dosen't by a BT exchange engineer!

112 understandable tho..

Doesn't matter that I don't. They didn't know that

[quote Brawsome]@Alwaysinpain An English forum? Really?[/quote]
Jesus Christ! People can be pedantic on here can't they?! Ok, a 'British forum'

Ffs

@Afibtomyboy

Very early in season for flu jab.

Optimum is end of October / beg of November, and early in the day.

Why should this make a difference? I had mine 10 days ago. They last a year.

I booked mine in as soon as the appointments were released with Boots.

OP, knowing how hard it is to get appointments for the flu jab now, I would have just booked a taxi rather than lose my possibly only chance of an appointment. Too late now.

I hope you can book another at some point.

[quote lasangoles]@alwaysinpain it's nothing like that. I didn't call to complain. I called to see if they knew how long they were going to be there and if I needed to cancel my appointment as it is paid for and I don't want to waste the pharmacy staff's time. I also didn't want to cancel if they were only going to be 5 minutes. [/quote]
So you took up the time of a 101 call handler, dealing with 1000's of people needing to speak about actual Police matters, (whilst non-emergency, are much more pressing than a bloody flu jab!) just because a Police car is temporarily blocking your drive?! Wow. Just wow.

Goodness me.

@alwaysinpain shocking eh!

This reminds me of when that old guy got given an ASBO and a fine for complaining about an Ambulance blocking him in whilst saving a baby's life next door.

Ambulances are completely different, though - they invariably need to get as close to a patient as possible, usually with heavy equipment, and also ensure safe level access for a vulnerable patient. Ambulances are very frequently life or death. They're also much bigger than police cars to have to find the best spot to park in and don't tend to be called out for routine, non-urgent visits (except by timewasters and malicious hoaxers).

Like it or not, a lot (by no means all) of crimes that the police will be coming out to are not life or death, are often not an emergency, frequently do not involve violent offenders and will very often be sent out after the crime has already taken place.

To put it bluntly, if an ambulance screeches out to attend to a baby whose heart has stopped, nobody with any sense, decency or compassion cares one bit that the paramedics just do whatever they have to. A couple of police officers coming to question a suspect or witness regarding an alleged case of financial fraud in the previous tax year, not so much.

People can be pedantic on here can't they?! Ok, a 'British forum'

I wouldn't call that pedantry, not wanting to be othered. I'm English and I winced at that. It's not really a British forum either, though: it's a British based forum, but it's populated by people from all around the world, whose contributions add to its richness and diversity.

Just as it's called Mumsnet, but there are plenty of users who are women without children, dads and even (gasp) men without children.

So you took up the time of a 101 call handler, dealing with 1000's of people needing to speak about actual Police matters, (whilst non-emergency, are much more pressing than a bloody flu jab!) just because a Police car is temporarily blocking your drive?! Wow. Just wow.

For all the police who carelessly parked there knew, OP could also have been a key police worker (or no-call doctor, midwife, firefighter....) needing to drive to start her shift.

You cannot just block somebody in their drive and hope that they have nothing terribly important that they need to travel to - and it's still illegal even if they don't - in the same way as it's just as illegal to break into an empty house as one occupied and full of valuables.

*no-call doctor

on-call doctor, of course.

So you took up the time of a 101 call handler, dealing with 1000's of people needing to speak about actual Police matters, (whilst non-emergency, are much more pressing than a bloody flu jab!) just because a Police car is temporarily blocking your drive?! Wow. Just wow.

Oh, do stop.

And "bloody flu jabs" are pretty important, especially this autumn/winter.

Is it too early for a flu jab? I had mine last Sunday.

@BashfulClam it loses its effectiveness over time so its best to get it closer to peak flu season so it will be at its most effective during the peak