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Herne Bay driver abused by motorists after she rushed to aid of woman who tripped over outside shop in King's Road

A good Samaritan rushed to the aid of a woman who had fallen over - but was then abused by foul-mouthed motorists for her parking.

Carrie Gillham was driving past the King’s Road Store in Herne Bay when she saw the stranger smash her head on the pavement.

Carrie Gillham was abused by other motorists
Carrie Gillham was abused by other motorists

The 36-year-old left her grey Nissan Juke nearby, slightly jutting out into the road, to help the woman, who was left bloodied with a suspected broken nose and swollen cheek.

But when she returned to her vehicle – after the patient was ushered home – passing drivers hurled obscenity-laden slurs her way for how she had left her car.

“An elderly guy was saying ‘you ******* ****, you ******* shouldn’t be parking there’ and another in a Land Rover was saying the same thing,” said Ms Gillham.

“I pulled over at the safest place I thought I could, but I wasn’t about to go start looking for a proper parking space because seconds matter.

“People were still passing my car okay. I was just worried about the person and if they had a heart attack or something.

“It was quite vicious and I was really upset because I’d only stopped to help.”

Ms Gillham, who lives on the Talmead Estate, says the woman had been walking towards the newsagent when she fell to the ground at noon on Saturday.

When she dashed over, more people arrived at the scene to offer help.

They called an ambulance for the victim – who was thought to be in her 50s – but she was later escorted to her home by passing neighbours.

Ms Gillham says the swelling was so bad around the woman’s face that she was left unable to see out of one eye.

“I’d just finished giving the ambulance her address when I got back into the car and had an elderly gentleman shouting and swearing at me..."

"It looked like she’d collapsed, but she said she’d tripped,” Ms Gillham added.

“Her nose may have been broken – there was a lot of blood coming out – and her eye, cheek and temple were swollen up. She couldn’t see out of one eye.

“I’d just finished giving the ambulance her address when I got back into the car and had an elderly gentleman shouting and swearing at me.

“Within a split second there was the essence of the community with her neighbours trying to get her up, but then there were people losing it because I’d held them up for a few seconds.”

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