91�ȱ�

An angry driver whose path was blocked by an ambulance repeatedly honked his horn and verbally abused a paramedic who was treating a patient.

Pavel Klim said his crew had no choice but to block the road while they attended an emergency in St Matthew's, Leicester on Thursday.

Mr Klim said the driver verbally abused him and a colleague, calling them idiots and demanding to get past.

The abuse has been reported to Leicestershire Police.

The paramedic said he heard a car horn while he was inside a house treating a patient.

'Horrible experience'

"We needed to get the patient to hospital quickly so we began moving them outside and the driver approached us and started shouting at us to move our vehicle," he said.

Mr Klim apologised and explained, he said, but the man continued to verbally abuse him.

"He started swearing at us, called me an idiot and was angry because he wanted to get past," he said.

Mr Klim, who worked as a paramedic in the Czech Republic for five years, said he never received abuse from the public at work before coming to the UK.

"It was a horrible experience, not just for us but for the patient as well. We come to work to help people, not to be abused."

The East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) Security Team is also investigating.

Richard Lyne, general manager for EMAS in Leicester, said abuse of its staff was "unacceptable" and paramedics deserved respect.

Last month an irate motorist spent 30 minutes sounding his horn at an ambulance that was blocking his way in Chesterfield.

In a similar incident, paramedics were shocked to find a note left on the windscreen of an ambulance telling them not to block a driveway as they attended an emergency in Birmingham in November.