Two mums were slapped with parking fined as they tended an injured boy and rang 999.

Childminder Melanie Lawlee and her friend Leona Cook over-ran their limit in James Whatman Way, Maidstone, by nine minutes while they comforted a young boy who had fallen off his skateboard.

But when they returned to the car they were dismayed to discover that they had been issued with parking tickets, despite their valid reason for being late.

Mrs Lawlee, from Harrietsham, had called an ambulance and waited with the youngster until it arrived.

The two women spoke with the traffic warden and then appealed to Maidstone council to waive the ticket but their plea was rejected.

The incident happened on Friday, August 20, but the pair have only found out this week that their appeal was turned down.

Mrs Lawlee, a mother-of-four, said: "What would the council rather me do, leave the boy to suffer just so I can move my car?

A spokesman for the South East Coast Ambulance Service confirmed a crew attended the incident and took a 12-year-old boy to hospital with leg and head injuries.

A council spokesman said it was waiting for the women to supply more information, including the phone bill, in order for them to consider waiving the fine.