Family say hospital parking charges killed their dad as he died hours after he left car park because he didn’t have change for meter
Brian Akers, 57, died hours after leaving a hospital car park because he did not have any change to buy a ticket
A HEARTBROKEN daughter has blamed hospital parking charges for her dad's death.
Brian Akers, 57, died hours after leaving a hospital car park because he did not have any change to buy a ticket.
His grieving daughter Kerry, 32, told the Daily Express the “stealth tax” killed the heating engineer, of South Woodham Ferrers, Essex.
Mr Akers drove to hospital with excruciating chest pains but had no way of feeding the pay and display machine.
Instead, he went to see his GP who put his agony down to an infection rather than a fatal blood clot.
But hours later he died of a massive aneurysm. His wife found him slumped in his bed.
Kerry, who is pregnant with her first child, said: "I truly believe hospital parking charges killed my father.
"If he had gone to A&E he would have seen a specialist who wouldn’t have dismissed it as an infection."
Now, six years on after Mr Akers' death, Kerry is putting pressure on the Government to do more to end steep hospital parking charges.
The Oxfam humanitarian worker, of Beaconsfield, Bucks., added:
"Dad hated going to the doctor’s so the fact he took himself to hospital on his own just shows how serious he thought this was.
"He was a hard-working, lawabiding man. We pay our taxes so we all have equal access to NHS health care but parking is a barrier to that equal access."
Brian's wife Lynne, 62, said: “My ex-husband lost his life unnecessarily. If he had made it to hospital they would have kept him in and he would still be alive.
"Brian’s death was a needless death."