A FATHER claims he was told to walk nearly four miles in the pouring rain with his baby because he forgot his wallet before entering a car park.

Dan Dice, 36, from Brighton, said he spent no more than a few minutes in Churchill Square car park in Brighton before realising he needed to return home to pick up his wallet.

But he said when he tried to exit the car park he was not allowed to leave.

Instead the new father was told to leave his car and he faced a near four-mile round trip to Stanford Road with his five-month-old baby Jasper in torrential rain until a fellow driver gave him the £3 he needed.

Mr Dice said: “I realised immediately after parking that I had forgotten my wallet.

“The barrier did not open when I tried to leave so I went to one of the ticket machines by the exit and explained the problem to the man on the other end of the speaker phone, making him aware I also had my baby boy with me.

“But I was told that as I lived in Brighton it would be best that I walked home.

“The guy was adamant I walked home with the baby in the pouring rain to get the £3.”

Mr Dice said his wife offered to pay the £3 over the phone by card – but the attendant said it was not possible.

Faced with a predicament, Mr Dice was eventually forced to ask another motorist for the £3 to leave the car park.

He added: “I was so angry. It hadn’t even been 15 minutes when I spoke to the guy over the speaker when I asked to leave – I should have been allowed out to get my wallet without fuss.”

Churchill Square told The Argus it would be investigating the incident.

A spokeswoman said: “We take all comments and complaints very seriously and will fully investigate the matter.”