HEALTH managers have warned hospital staff to stop parking irresponsibly or risk having their cars towed away.

The threat comes after a fire engine was unable to get access to answer an alarm call at Bishop Auckland General Hospital because staff cars were blocking the road.

John Saxby, chief executive of Darlington and South-West Durham Health Trust, confirmed staff had left their cars in bays reserved for disabled drivers outside the physiotherapy department, and blocked access points.

He said: "People have been parking where they shouldn't have been parking, and if they park there we will deal with it.''

He said that the fire engine incident, referred to at a recent staff meeting, had not been an emergency, but the trust planned to tackle the problem to avoid a repetition.

He warned that cars blocking the way would be damaged if the fire service needed to gain emergency access.

"The fire brigade just move cars if they are in the way and they don't really care if they get damaged. People will get no sympathy from anybody if they have blocked the way for the fire engine,'' he said.

According to the staff meeting, employees are using the spaces for disabled drivers rather than using the car park at the rear of the hospital's maternity unit.

A call has been made for extra security patrols to wheel clamp cars left in spaces designated for the disabled.

It was also agreed that the trust would contact the police and arrange for vehicles to be towed away if they were blocking emergency access points.

Heads of department have been informed and a bulletin has been sent to all staff telling them of the decisions.

Mr Saxby denied that any disruption due to rebuilding work at the hospital was to blame for the problem.

He said that staff had been notified of the proposals and had given their full backing to the action.