Dudley emergency nurse who climbed 10 flights of stairs to help acutely ill baby is hit with £267 parking bill

An on-call children’s community nurse faces a £267 court bill after overstaying a 30-minute parking time limit while tending to a seriously ill baby.

Lisa Smith, of Dudley, was answering a call to a block of flats in Perry Barr, Birmingham, when she was issued with a £40 penalty charge notice.

The original charge has now escalated to a court order for £266.63 following an eight-month battle to get the original £40 fine overturned.

Her case has now been taken up by Dudley MP Sonia Kumar.

Miss Smith, who lives in Brook Street, Woodsetton, was visiting a block of flats at the Perry Barr Village complex with a colleague in November last year, where a baby had been taken “acutely ill” on the fifth floor.

She parked her registered ‘rapid response nurse’ fleet car in the visitor bay, and left her ‘nurse on call’ permit in the windscreen.

On arrival at the block, Miss Smith and her colleague got stuck inside a faulty lift.

“We pressed the buzzer, but nothing happened. Eventually a resident got us out, but we were in there for probably 20-30 minutes,” she said.

“People told us the lifts were always breaking down. We walked up 10 flights of stairs.

“My job is to try to reduce the need for patients to be taken into A&E; we went to see an acutely ill baby, but unfortunately the baby had to be taken to hospital.”

After leaving the flat, they noticed a mother who was struggling with a pushchair on the stairs, and her colleague helped her up to her flat.

Miss Smith said she heard nothing more about it until February this year, when she was issued with a £40 penalty charge.

She challenged it through the Parking on Private Land Appeals (Popla) service, but her claim was rejected.

Miss Kumar has now written to Civil Enforcement Ltd, the company which issued the penalty, asking it to put all action on hold while the case is reviewed.

She asked for an explanation of why the permit and the free parking period were not taken into account, and to cancel the charge and resolve the court proceedings at no further cost to Miss Smith.

Miss Kumar said: "Before entering Parliament, I spent many years as an NHS physiotherapist. I know what a home visit involves.

"Lisa was doing exactly what we ask of community nurses: caring for a sick baby at home, so the family didn't have to go into hospital.

"The lifts were broken. She climbed five floors to reach her patient. And for that, she is now facing court action.

"It's not good enough.

"I have asked the company to look at the facts and cancel this charge. Nurses should be able to do their jobs without this hanging over them. I will keep fighting Lisa's corner until it is put right."

Miss Kumar said she “could not believe” Popla, which is run on behalf of the British Parking Association, had rejected Miss Smith’s claim.

The Express & Star contacted Civil Parking Enforcement’s parent company Creative Car Park Holdings for comment.