Grieving son slapped with £100 parking fine after three-hour drive to visit dying dad
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA 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. READ MORE: 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.
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