Parking trauma as baby chokes (From Salisbury Journal)

Parking trauma as baby chokes

7:20am Thursday 24th September 2009 in News By Kirsty Barton

Suzanne Whalley with her son Christien

A MOTHER of three from Salisbury was left in tears after a parking warden repeatedly asked her to move her car while she tended to her baby son, who was choking and couldn’t breathe.

Suzanne Whalley, 36, of Harper Road, was driving down Fisherton Street last Wednesday just before 5pm with her three young children in the car when nine-month-old Christien started choking.

She pulled down a side street and jumped into the back to try to clear the baby’s airways and get him breathing again.

But while she was tending to him, a Wiltshire Council parking warden knocked on the window and told her she wasn’t allowed to park there, and needed to move immediately.

“I was really, really shocked,” said Mrs Whalley. “I carried on trying to clear my son’s airways and slammed the car door.”

The warden knocked on the window several more times, telling Mrs Whalley to turn off the engine and to call an ambulance if her son was choking.

She said she was in tears and her other two children, Nathan, seven, and five-year-old Kiera were both distraught and crying.

“He didn’t offer any assistance,” she said. “I still cannot believe how horrible he was. I think he would have been happier if I left my son not breathing and moved to a parking space and got a ticket.

“It was one of the most upsetting things that has ever happened to me since I moved here. I felt like it was something off a TV comedy show.”

Mrs Whalley managed to get her son breathing again, but by this time the warden had gone and had refused to give her his name.

She said: “Looking back now, I feel like shaking him and saying ‘do you not realise my son is choking?’ He kept badgering and badgering me to move the car.

“I phoned my husband Dean after and he was fuming. He came to Salisbury to meet me because I was so upset. It was just horrendous.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “On receipt of a complaint made by Mrs Whalley the council will carry out a full investigation.

“Our civil enforcement officers will approach any vehicles that appear to be in breach of parking regulations and where the driver is present may ask them to move the vehicle.

“We would always expect the officer to act according to the situation as they perceive it, offering advice or appropriate assistance where needed.”

Little Christien is now fully recovered following his ordeal.