War hero waited more than three hours with broken hip

● 97-year-old veteran to receive full apology from ambulance service

Ambulance bosses are set to apologise to a 97-year-old war hero who was forced to wait more than three hours in agony after breaking his hip.

Commander John Lorimer, thought to be the last survivor of one of the most courageous raids of the Second World War, fell at his South Ayrshire home at about 10pm on Friday night.

He was helped back into his bed, but the next morning woke up in excruciating pain. His son Patrick, 73, called emergency services around 9am, but an ambulance did not arrive for the Royal Navy veteran until after midday – three-and-a-half hours later.

The great-grand-father-of-six, from Kirkmichael, was rushed to University Hospital Ayr where he had hip replacement surgery the next day.

Ambulance staff have an eight-minute target to respond to the most serious emergencies. Other calls are gauged depending on the level of need.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said it would be carrying out a full inquiry into the “full circumstances of the delay”. But son Patrick said the crews were too “slow” to reach his father.

Patrick, who also lives in Kirkmichael, said of his father: “The immediate services were called and they got him into bed as he was flat on his back on the floor. The next morning he couldn’t get up.

“He had spent the night with the pain and it was getting worse. They [the ambulance] were slow.” Mr Lorimer, who has two children and three grandchildren, was part of the 12th Submarine Flotilla – also known as the “midget submariners” – at the age of 21.

The operation carried out a successful attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in September 1943, saving the lives of tens of thousands of merchant seamen and reshaped the future of the war.

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon condemned the wait, which came two days before Armistice Day.

She said: “It’s upsetting to hear that anyone in severe pain has been made to wait hours for an ambulance, least of all a 97-year-old veteran who has served his country and paid his dues to society.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We will be looking into this matter thoroughly and will contact this patient directly to apologise.”