Ambulance Driver in Murcia Suspended for 45 Days for Attending Local Fair. In Murcia, an ambulance driver was suspended from work for 45 days after leaving his station and driving a service vehicle to a local fair. The court upheld the punishment as lawful, taking into account a repeat offense and the misuse of the vehicle.
On the evening of September 25, 2023, an ambulance driver from Murcia left the work base without permission and went to the local fair using an official vehicle. According to GPS data, the car was on the fairgrounds for more than an hour, and the employee was spotted in uniform among the pavilions. He explained the trip by saying he needed to retrieve his personal keys.
The emergency medical service management discovered the violation during a review of the vehicle’s route: the stop was not connected to a call from the 112 emergency line. An internal investigation found that such behavior does not comply with ambulance service rules, which permit leaving the base only for emergency calls.
Repeated violation
As noted by Talent24h, several days earlier, on September 17, the same employee had already been sanctioned with a two-day suspension for a similar incident—he also used the official vehicle to go to the fair to retrieve his keys. The new violation was judged as a repeat offense, leading to harsher disciplinary measures.
The employer classified the driver’s actions as a serious and repeated violation of labor discipline, as well as unauthorized use of emergency medical transport. As a result, he was suspended from work for 45 days without pay.
Court proceedings
The driver tried to challenge the penalty in court, claiming the sanction had been reduced to 10 days, citing his January payroll statement. However, the court of first instance did not accept these arguments, and the higher court of Murcia subsequently confirmed the legality of the disciplinary action.
The judges noted that irrefutable evidence is required for a review of the facts, and the submitted documents did not confirm a reduction in the duration of the penalty. Moreover, the appeal contained no legal arguments against the essence of the sanction, but merely attempted to reinterpret the events.
Significance of the decision
As a result, the Tribunal upheld the 45-day suspension from work and pay. The decision has not yet entered into legal force and can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Spain.
The situation highlights that in the Spanish healthcare system, disciplinary measures for misuse of official vehicles and violations of labor discipline are strictly enforced, especially in cases of repeat offenses. For emergency service workers, such incidents can have serious consequences for their careers and income.
