A spokeswoman for Dublin International Airport announced today that in the future, airport police will exempt emergency vehicles from their policy of booting, or clamping, any vehicle parked in an emergency-vehicle zone.
The change follows a recent incident in which police clamped an ambulance that was waiting to transport a seriously injured man to the hospital. According to an airport spokeswoman, police believed the emergency zone was reserved for "life and death cases," and after the ambulance had been parked in the emergency zone for more than 30 minutes, they concluded it was probably not such a case. Even after paramedics returned with the injured man and explained the situation, the police would not release the vehicle until the fine was paid. The paramedics had to get money out of their own bank accounts to pay the fine after police refused to accept the ambulance company's credit card.
The spokeswoman called the incident "deeply regrettable."
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