A Wilsden dad was slapped with a parking fine after he rushed to hospital because his baby son Albert had stopped breathing.

Garry Gledhill left his vehicle on a nearby street after failing to find a parking spot at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

When he returned to the car, a penalty charge notice had been issued.

The 27-year-old said he had circled around the hospital’s car park near A&E three times before giving up after 35 minutes and trying BRI’s car park in Smith Lane.

He said he had tried his “utmost” to find a parking space before he felt he had no choice but to leave his car in nearby Prospect Place.

The street has parking restrictions, but Mr Gledhill said he was out of options.

In an appeal against the ticket, he said: “It had been 105 minutes since I found out about my son. I had no contact with my partner and had no idea whether my only child was dead or alive.”

Mr Gledhill left a note on his windscreen with his mobile number explaining he had parked there due to an emergency. “Thankfully, when I finally got in to A&E, I found my son had been resuscitated and he was in a stable condition. I went back to my car and found the penalty notice at about 5pm,” he said.

“Bradford Council is getting mega money off people who can’t find a space to park and spend hours on end trying to find a space. The public are then forced to park illegally so they’re able to visit their loved ones in hospital.”

Cars that park on residential streets with permit schemes can be fined by Bradford Council, and those who park on double yellow lines within the hospital grounds can be charged by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs BRI.

A trust spokesman said: “We are sorry Mr Gledhill was unable to find a car parking space on our site and apologise for any inconvenience this caused him.”

A Bradford Council spokesman added: “We have received Mr Gledhill’s appeal, and this will be considered shortly as certain emergency situations can be taken into consideration.”

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe said he had received complaints from several constituents about the parking issue.

“You’d expect the hospital and council to be sympathetic to people who have genuine reasons to park how they have to,” he added.