Here's the issue.....you texted for 3 weeks, so built this into a big thing and had got emotionally involved.....no doubt planned your outfit, looked forward to it etc etc.
However, he clearly wasn't as invested in meeting you - if he said there would be a coffee or a meal or whatever, then that's what he should have delivered. Regardless of the fact or lie about parent being ill, he did meet you in town, but didn't deliver what he had offered.
Op, you need to maintain perspective and not get carried away before meeting people. You need to remember you are important and worth more than being messed about....just because you had travelled was not a good enough reason to go and meet him for 10 mins - so he could have a quick look at you and decide if he wanted to see you for longer than 10 mins without any cost or emotional or commitment requirement at all....totally unacceptable.
Personally I would have replied with 'we had a plan, but if you can't manage what we planned, let's just leave it' and I would have gone home or for a coffee alone.....and I wouldn't have texted anymore.
Your problem to be honest sounds like you were a bit desperate (sorry to say that) and lacking self esteem. You worried you might not have looked attractive, you hoped 10 mins with you would have convinced him to devote the whole afternoon to you, and you accepted his crap about a parent being ill, but still being able to get to town for a short visit.......what did this all say about the way you value yourself to him? He wasn't valuing you when he let you down and then when he said he'd meet for 10 mins, and you confirmed the fact that he didn't need to value you by showing you weren't respecting yourself enough, to go along with it.
If men behave in a way which is disresectful before they even meet you....just cut off. Someone might have a parent ill....it isn't beyond feasible if unlikely. IF and only if they then are quick and keen to make contact and make all the effort and journey for a replacement date, should you consider going. If they mess you about before you've even met, just walk away....avoid this concern that they might just be the one and so you must pander to their unreasonable letting downs and requests....you are worth more.
In the end, this guy might have been married or had a girlfriend. He certainly wasn't prepared to give you the time he'd offered and used to lure you over on an hours journey, just 10 minutes. He wasn't valuing you enough. And by agreeing to his crap terms you failed to value yourself. Just live and learn and walk away if this kind of thing happens again.