An Ashford dad who drove himself to hospital when he thought he was having a stroke was horrified to find he had been given a parking ticket, despite nurses leaving a note on his windscreen.

Gerald Morris, 54, from Smarden, rushed to the William Harvey Hospital when his face went numb and his speech became slurred.

The dad-of-five, who works in pest control and repairs lawnmowers, had already suffered a mini stroke just four months earlier.

He said: “I’ll admit that I was panicked. It’s a very scary situation.

“I drove to the hospital and left my big white van in the staff car park outside the Richard Stevens Ward and shot straight into the hospital.

“I checked in and rang my wife to come and collect the van because I knew I couldn’t leave it there.

“I told the nurses where the van was and they kindly put a note on the windscreen saying not to give me a ticket and that I was a patient in their ward.”

Mr Morris spent three days in hospital having tests but had not suffered a second stroke.

However, when his wife came to pick his van up, she found a parking ticket had been put on the windscreen.

Mr Morris added: “I dealt with it when I got out of hospital and was quite calm, mistakes happen.

“I wrote to the parking services and in a very polite, clear way explained what had happened and explained about the note left by the nurses.

“But I received a reply basically saying ‘no way’ and threatening me with the bailiffs unless I paid.

"I thought I was having a stroke and I had taken every possible measure to explain the situation" - Gerald Morris

“Yes I understand the need for parking regulations and if I’d parked on double yellow lines to pop in to a shop and get a sandwich then fair enough.

“But I wasn’t having a sandwich, I thought I was having a stroke and I had taken every possible measure to explain the situation.”

Mr Morris finally decided to write a cheque to parking services and pay the £20 fine.

Now, East Kent Hospitals spokesman, Steve James, has apologised for the situation and said the Trust had arranged a refund for Mr Morris.

He said: “When Mr Morris appealed against his ticket he didn’t mention that hospital staff had left a note on the van.

“If we had been aware of this, we would not have enforced the parking charge.

“We are very sorry that this has happened and we have brought it to the attention of our parking team.

“We are contacting Mr Morris to arrange a refund.”

Mr Morris said he heard nothing more from the East Kent Hospitals Trust, which runs the William Harvey Hospital, until the day after he contacted KentOnline's sister paper, the Kentish Express.

He added: “They rang up to say there had been a mistake and they would refund me but it’s not really about the £20. It’s the principle of the thing.

“This has nothing to do with the nurses, they were absolutely amazing. I have no fault with them whatsoever and could praise them all day.

“But the nurse left a letter on the window explaining where I was, with a phone number and everything. I was parked right by the ward, in a space, they could have just popped in to check, it’s just a bit of common sense.

“Heart attacks and strokes, that sort of thing, it’s a really awful feeling because you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“I’m not after sympathy at all, there are a lot of people much worse off than me, but I think they should have used their common sense.”