A VAN driver who blocked an ambulance trying to reach a sick baby should have been prosecuted, parents and community activists have said.

Yesterday we reported how a man from Littlehampton was told to apologise after he parked in the way of paramedics trying to get to the baby.

The ambulance had its sirens on when it came across the van in Buckingham Road, Brighton.

The 37-year-old man donated £100 to a baby unit after he told paramedics to find their way around his double-parked Mercedes Sprinter.

But the man was not prosecuted. He was simply told to apologise and make the donation.

The community resolution punishment was requested by ambulance staff and agreed by police, but many parents and activists feel action should have been stronger.

Leah Webb, chairwoman of the parents’ advisory group at the Roundabout Children’s Centre, in Whitehawk Road, said: “When your child is in an emergency situation, every second feels like an hour. You feel totally and utterly helpless.

“I think perhaps he should have faced some criminal charges for it because of the potential consequences of what he did and because there was a child involved.”

The driver moved the van after arguing with the paramedics on Friday February 13.

Community resolution is a way of dealing with low-level crime outside of court, where behaviour is uncontested and all parties agree.

Its use is being developed by Sussex Police and on Monday the force published a list of punishments victims can pick for their offenders.

It is understood the mother of the baby – who was taken to hospital and has recovered – was not involved in the decision as she was not in touch with ambulance staff. It is not clear whether she knows of their struggle to reach her.

Conservative city councillor Dee Simpson, opposition spokesman for the community safety forum, said “everyone involved” should have a say in whether there is community resolution.

She added: “I would be concerned to involve the parents of the child of the baby, everybody who is affected by the situation should have a say.”

Hove resident Valerie Paynter, who often uses the ambulance service as a patient due to a 24-year-old liver transplant, said the man should have been charged.

She added: “What if that ambulance had somebody in it with a heart attack and needed to get to hospital? Once in a while I have to go to accident and emergency and I know I would want to get there in one piece.”

  • Do you know the identity of the van driver? Email news@theargus.co.uk or call 01273 544512.