Health
Woman dies in car park before being resuscitated - then gets parking fine
Key Points
Woman dies in car park before being resuscitated - then gets parking fine After a passerby saved her life by resuscitating her in a supermarket car park, insult was added to a woman's injury after she received a somewhat harsh parking fine A woman who was brought back from the dead after being resuscitated in a car park was later hit with another cruel blow - a parking fine for her outstaying her welcome. The 54-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest outside a New World supermarket in Orewa, New...
Woman dies in car park before being resuscitated - then gets parking fine
After a passerby saved her life by resuscitating her in a supermarket car park, insult was added to a woman's injury after she received a somewhat harsh parking fine
A woman who was brought back from the dead after being resuscitated in a car park was later hit with another cruel blow - a parking fine for her outstaying her welcome. The 54-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest outside a New World supermarket in Orewa, New Zealand on July 26 but thankfully lived to tell the bizarre tale.
Staff at the scene were alerted by a passerby who discovered the woman and realised she had no pulse, and quickly established screens around her for privacy. The female stranger, whose identity is unknown, heroically performed chest compressions to regain the woman's pulse until an ambulance crew arrived and took over.
The woman's dad, Keith Wilkinson, later revealed: "The stranger just melted away once my daughter had regained a pulse and St John's Ambulance arrived on the scene, before anyone could thank her."
Following her resuscitation, Keith's daughter was taken to North Shore Hospital, while her car remained in the 90-minute limit car park.
Of course, moving the vehicle was hardly a priority - and it remained on New World Orewa's premises for five-and-a-half hours in total. As a consequence, the woman was soon hit with an $80 [£34.70] parking fine from Smart Compliance Management.
The company later told the woman via email: "Smart Compliance Management has been contracted to provide fair and equal opportunity for parking at this car park. This is why a maximum stay time limit applies. Customers are entitled to 90 minutes of parking. Your vehicle was parked for 341 minutes."
Despite her successful appeal, however, she was still handed an administrative charge.
"Having considered your appeal in detail we have decided to uphold the Breach Notice as we believe that it was correctly issued in accordance with the terms and conditions advertised within the area concerned," Smart Compliance Management continued.
"Due to the circumstances resulting in this Breach Notice, we are able to reduce this to a $30 [£13.02] administration fee."
Keith confirmed her daughter had agreed to pay the fee. Steve McClean, who owns New World Orewa, later contacted Smart Compliance Management and issued an apology to the woman and her family.
"This was a deeply distressing situation for the customer and their family, and I’m sorry this caused them additional stress and inconvenience," he said.
It prompted Smart Compliance Management to say sorry themselves for the "additional stress caused to this individual following their medical emergency" and admit that they did not "appropriately take into account the circumstances of the case".
A spokesperson for the firm added: "We have since reinforced our processes and provided further guidance to our team to support consistent decision-making in exceptional circumstances."
Steve also commented: "It’s important that parking rules are applied fairly and with common sense. Given the circumstances, I completely understand why the customer and their family were upset, and I’m pleased the right thing has now happened."