FRUSTRATED York motorist Mark Elwers staged a penny protest over a parking fine.

He walked into council offices in St Leonard's Place and handed over a bag containing 3,000 pennies.

Mark, who is landlord of the York Arms, in High Petergate, says he was fined £30 after he had left his car overnight on yellow lines in nearby Duncombe Place, fearing that his wife, Lisa, was about to go into premature labour and would need to be rushed to hospital.

Several days later their baby girl was born, five weeks early, and she is now being cared for in York Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit. But Mark says that when he told the council why he had left the car there, he was told: "Pregnancies aren't classed as an emergency."

When he explained their particular concerns at the time, he was told to produce a letter from a doctor confirming that Lisa had been facing an emergency.

"But my baby daughter is in special care. What more proof do you need?" he said.

"It isn't the money I'm concerned about, it's the principle."

City of York Council's head of network management, Peter Evely, said Mr Elwers' car had been spotted by an attendant at 9.50am on yellow lines, and after approximately ten minutes and with no sign of the driver, a penalty charge notice was issued.

He said Mr Elwers had said in his appeal against the penalty that he had parked overnight because of concerns for his pregnant wife.

"We asked him for some evidence that her condition was such that the use of a vehicle in an emergency was a medical necessity. Unfortunately we heard nothing more."

He said the council was always ready to take into account genuine cases of difficulty, but needed the co-operation of those involved.

Updated: 10:44 Friday, June 11, 2004