A grieving son was hit with a £100 parking fine after driving 140 miles in the middle of the night to see his dying father.
David Ridsdale, from Nottingham, rushed to hospital after a 3am call from his mum who said he was seriously ill.
He drove more than three hours from Nottingham to the North East in treacherous conditions, Teesside Live reports.
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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 a storm 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."
Arriving at the hospital at around 7am, Mr Ridsdale parked his car near the hospital and forgot to buy a ticket on November 27.
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."
He goes on to describe that he sat with his father for a short while in the hospital and proceeded to take his mother home.
Several days later, he received a letter from Smart Parking Ltd, the owners of the car park, stating that he was liable for a £100 because he parked his car for 13 minutes without payment.
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 if the fine could be waived on compassionate grounds - even attaching a copy of his father's death certificate in the 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."
But Mr Ridsdale received a reply from Smart Parking stating that they cannot waive the fine on the grounds suggested by him.
"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."
Since the incident, Mr Ridsdale has reluctantly paid the parking fine.
A spokesperson for North Tees Hospital 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."
