A DISABLED man, racked with pain, was forced to walk for more than an hour to reach a crucial hospital appointment because there was nowhere for him to park.

Ex-serviceman David Wilson, who has a knee joint replacement, was turned away from Worcestershire's new £96m hospital by security guards who told him the car park was full.

When he finally reached his physiotherapy appointment his leg was too swollen for the treatment to go ahead.

"I had an appointment at the new hospital on Monday, March 18, at noon and thought I would arrive in good time as it was my first visit to this hospital," said retired social worker Mr Wilson, of Isaac Close, St John's.

"I was met by four security type fellows in yellow waterproofs with radios.

"They said I couldn't park because it was full, even though I had disabled stickers on the car.

"I can't walk very far without pain, so I asked to be directed to the car park at Ronkswood and walked back.

"Needless to say, I was in great pain. I was unable to have the treatment because of the pain and have to return today to try again.

"I wonder just how many appointments they will claim were cancelled because the patient didn't turn up, but it was because they could not get in."

The 64-year-old, who served in the RAF for 22 years, has sent a letter of complaint to managers.

A Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman said work had begun on an extra 300 spaces at the Charles Hastings Way site.

"We hadn't been able to start work until planners gave the go-ahead and that took longer than we expected," he said.

"What we are doing in the meantime is having the Ronkswood site for staff parking, available until September.

"This offers 300 places and we have put on a free minibus shuttle service, which is running from 6am until midnight constantly. There are plans for another minibus to encourage staff use."

He stressed that parking problems were worse on Monday because it was the new hospital's first day.

"We'd apologise to any patients or visitors who were caused any inconvenience.

"We're aware that there is pressure on parking and we're doing everything we can."