'Car hit me when I asked drivers not to park here'

A man says he feared he was "going to die" when he was hit by a car while challenging motorists parking on a housing estate.

Haggai, 39, said: "I went on top of their bonnet and they kept on driving all the way down the road."

Residents of the estate, in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, have complained for years about patients and staff parking "dangerously" outside their homes to attend nearby Castle Hill Hospital.

Humberside Police said a man was arrested in connection with the incident on 17 March, but had since been released without charge "due to evidential difficulties".

Haggai said he had donned a high-vis vest and spoken to about 30 drivers attempting to park in Wheatley Drive – a residential street directly opposite the hospital – that morning.

He said: "The individual literally just came straight towards us. They hit me, so I stood there and stopped the vehicle and said, what are you doing?

"Rather than the person obviously coming out of the car, they carried on driving."

The BBC has seen CCTV footage appearing to show Haggai on the bonnet of the car as it travels a substantial distance down the street.

"I was obviously very scared for my life, I thought I was going to die and I thought about my wife and my kids in that moment," he added.

Haggai said on some days he had seen more 60 cars parked on roads across the estate, some blocking driveways and parked on corners.

"Some drivers are very abusive when you try and address the fact that they're actually parking outside your house.

"After what happened to me, everyone's more cautious."

Other residents of the estate have also raised concerns.

Collin Colborn, 61, said: "It's not just the parking, it's the dangerous parking."

"We often can't get into the drive or out of the drive."

But he said he had sympathy for staff facing parking charges on the hospital estate.

"They've got to come to work," he added. "I just don't agree with paying to park to come to work."

In 2025, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust almost doubled the cost of parking for patients and visitors at Castle Hill, with a stay of between one and two hours rising from £3 to £5.60 – though concessions are available in some cases.

The trust said the increase would cover the rising cost of maintenance and security.

Staff pay £1 a day to park at the hospital, but are offered free travel on a number of public transport routes.

Charlotte Kelly, who has lived on the estate for 10 years, said parking was "absolutely crazy".

"People park on blind corners, so then you end up nearly crashing into vehicles.

"People are having to edge out and there's kids there playing."

The 41-year-old said she would like the area to have parking permits.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is proposing to address the issues by introducing a trial scheme using an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO).

A spokesperson said: "We are currently working towards the painting of yellow lines on some streets and the installing parking restriction signs, which are scheduled for the next few weeks."

Following the trial, residents would have a say over whether the restrictions should be made permanent, changed or removed.

In a previous statement, the NHS Humber Health Partnership said it had a total of 1,861 parking spaces for patients, visitors and staff at Castle Hill and encouraged staff "to use sustainable travel options where possible".

A spokesperson for Humberside Police said officers investigated "an alleged collision involving a car and a pedestrian". Their investigation included "speaking to witnesses and reviewing CCTV from the area at the time".

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