A man who drove 140 miles in the middle of the night to visit his dying father was hit with a £100 parking fine after he forgot to buy a ticket.
David Ridsdale received a call from his mother at 3am on November 27 to say that his elderly father had been rushed to hospital after a fall.
He immediately set about making the lengthy journey from Nottingham to the North East in what were, at the time, treacherous conditions, as reported by Teesside Live.
Mr Ridsdale said: "Obviously I set off immediately. The journey from my home in Nottingham usually takes about 2.5 hours, this was however the night of storm 'Arwen' and conditions were terrible with snow and heavy rain, and the drive took me over 3.5 hours.
"I heard from my mother during the drive that my father had sadly died."
Mr Ridsdale finally arrived at North Tees Hospital at around 7am, and parked in the car park on Hardwick Road.
The car park is directly opposite the hospital, but does not belong to them.
He said: "When I arrived at North Tees Hospital, it was still dark and the weather was still horrendous, it was tanking down.
"Not being from the area, I was not familiar with the hospital or the parking.
"I had so many things on my mind, I was anxious about my elderly mother and very upset, I just parked in a car park and ran into the hospital building."
Mr Ridsdale describes how he sat with his father for a short while in the hospital, and then took his mother home.
It was several days later when he received a letter from Smart Parking Ltd, who own the car park, to say that he had stayed in the car park for 13 minutes without payment and he was liable for a fine of £100.
"The car park was deserted, and to be honest it never crossed my mind to think about paying," Mr Ridsdale, said.
He wrote to Smart Parking asking them if they could waive the charge on compassionate grounds, and even included a copy of his fathers death certificate to corroborate his appeal.
He said: "I was not contesting that I didn't pay. I should have paid and failed to do so, but it was entirely unintentional, my mind was on other things.
"I was just asking for someone to give me a break and show some compassion, the circumstances were exceptional."
Mr Ridsdale received a letter back from Smart Parking stating that they have considered his appeal but 'Cannot rescind the Parking Charge Notice on this basis'.
"I just feel really disappointed, fed up and helpless", said Mr Ridsdale.
"My faith in human nature has taken a bit of a knock, I just hope that the individual who made this judgement on behalf of Smart Parking never has to experience the upset and stress that my family and I did on that day."
Mr Ridsdale has since paid the parking fine.
Smart Parking have been contacted for comment and are yet to respond.
A spokesperson for North Tees said: "North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust would like to offer our condolences to the family during this difficult time.
"The car park in question is not part of our car parking provision. It is owned and operated by a privately owned company and as such, we have no influence over any of its activities, charges or penalty notices."
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