Hospital bosses have revealed the true scale of the parking crisis which led to a controversial clampdown at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary.

They said at one point a police car and ambulance were unable to get to A&E due to badly parked vehicles. Then, while it was being dealt with, a motorist reversed their car into the waiting ambulance.

Tough new parking rules came into effect last week, resulting in 60 fines being handed out in the first day. It prompted criticism, largely from staff, many of who received tickets while at work. It later emerged that the signs were wrong, resulting in some of the fines being rescinded. They have now been corrected.

But at a meeting of the of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust board on Tuesday, bosses said that despite "teething problems" the new rules had eased the widespread parking chaos.

Chief executive Stephen Eames said: "I just want to remind everyone that the rationale for this is safety.

"Board members will know there has been a lot of concern about the safety of our patients and visitors to the site.

"There are some teething problems and some issues to resolve but the thing I want to emphasise is that we have had lots of positive feedback from visitors and patients."

He added that since the new rules came in there have been free spaces in the car park, whereas before motorists struggled to find anywhere to park. Mr Eames believes this shows that some people were using the hospital as a free car park, as many suspected.

The rules, which are being enforced by national firm UKPC, came in after a new 120-space staff car park was established, freeing up space in the main car park.

But employees say it is not big enough, and there is a waiting list for permits so they have to pay daily charges. But bosses stress that work will start later in the year on a further 270-space car park, along with installation of a barrier control system.

Mr Eames said historically, because the car park wasn't properly managed, they didn't know exactly how many staff parked on site regularly. Now they are reviewing the arrangements and plan to give priority to those employees who provide front line care.

Gina Tiller, trust chairwoman, said: "It's important to remind ourselves why we did this. Good feedback from patients and visitors makes it all worthwhile."

Parking has long been a problem at the city infirmary, with patients and visitors regularly reporting being late for appointments because they could not find anywhere to leave their cars.

As a result, cars were regularly left on the side of roads and even on double red lines - areas where there is strictly no parking as access is needed by emergency vehicles.