Ambulances are being held up outside Frenchay Hospital as surrounding roads become increasingly clogged with parked cars.

More and more patients, visitors and staff seem to be trying to avoid paying parking fees in on-site car parks, where the minimum charge is £2.

Great Western Ambulance Service says its crews are being delayed as they try to get patients to the hospital.

Now South Gloucestershire Council says it is considering bringing in parking restrictions along Bristol Road, which links the hospital to the Avon Ring Road, where traffic is often only able to pass in one direction at a time.

Frenchay Hospital has the only accident and emergency department in north Bristol but people living nearby said they have seen ambulances being forced to wait to get into or out of the hospital, despite having their blue lights flashing. The area near the main entrance is said to be the worst affected.

Janet Wooster, 62, who lives near the hospital entrance, said: "It's become a nightmare recently and something has got to be done.

"I've seen ambulances with their lights flashing having to wait to get through because traffic is coming in the opposite direction. With all the parked cars, there is only room for one line of traffic.

"People are able to park on the road because there are no restrictions and until recently it hasn't been that bad.

"But for some reason more drivers are choosing to leave their cars outside instead of in the hospital grounds. I presume it's because they don't want to pay to park. One day there were cars parked right down to Malmains Drive."

Joan Eede, who lives opposite the hospital, said: "It's become horrendous. I've seen people who work at Frenchay parking there all day and people leaving their cars on the road to take children into outpatients. Then you get the visitors arriving and parking outside as well.

"We've seen drivers arguing over who should back up and we've even lost a foot of our frontage where people have driven over it."

Parking at Frenchay Hospital costs £2 for up to three hours, £4 for three to five hours, £6 for a full day and £12 for a week. Patients and visitors with disabilities are offered free parking in designated spaces and reduced rates are available to regular and long-term patients and visitors.

Large numbers of cars also park along one side of Begbrook Park, along the southern edge of the hospital site, effectively turning it into a single-track road during the day.

Great Western Ambulance Service spokesman John Oliver said that crews are having to plan their routes around Frenchay Hospital, taking the parked cars into consideration.

He said: "We are experiencing some difficulties on occasions getting through traffic outside Frenchay Hospital, including some instances of emergency vehicles carrying patients or leaving the hospital to attend another call-out. Our crews and dispatchers are aware of the situation so can take it into account when responding to emergency calls."

South Gloucestershire Council spokeswoman Debra Goddard said: "We are looking to introduce advisory 'keep clear' markings along the eastern side of Bristol Road between the main hospital entrance and Malmains Drive.

"This measure can be introduced quickly to deter inconsiderate parking here, while in the longer term consideration can be given to introducing formal waiting restrictions."

North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has introduced signs asking people not to park near the Bristol Road entrance but they have no legal force.

Spokesman Richard Cottle said parking charges for visitors and patients had not increased for nearly two years and the number of available spaces was the same.

He said: "We are aware of the problems this is causing not only to motorists and pedestrians, but also to ambulances that are trying to get to and from the hospital site.

"The trust does not have any jurisdiction over the highway but in the last week we have put up signs strongly urging motorists not to park there and telling them of the dangers their parking is causing to others - particularly delaying ambulances getting to accident and emergency."

He said the trust was also working with local councils and the police to resolve the issue.

The Evening Post questioned people parking on Bristol Road yesterday.

A mother returning from taking her son to A&E said: "We needed to go to A&E and this is closer than parking in the car park.

"You can never get a space there and it is a nightmare to drive around and around, and it costs about £4 when you don't know how long you are going to be. It's not illegal, there are no yellow lines."

A medical student returning to his car said: "The car park for us is quite small and I have already collected enough parking tickets for trying to park alongside bays.They are very strict."

A man who had dropped his daughter off at A&E, before parking his vehicle, said: "I've taken my daughter to A&E and couldn't be bothered to find a space in there as I needed to get back to her quickly. There's no double yellow, it's not illegal."

A woman attending an outpatient appointment said: "I haven't got any change on me and if I stopped to get some I would probably miss my appointment.

"It's not illegal, is it?"