Gran’s 2- hour ambulance wait in snow
AN INJURED 89- year- old grandmother was left lying on a snowcovered pavement for two hours as she waited for an ambulance.
Widow Doreen Gibson was coughing up blood and slipping in and out of consciousness after she fell over at an open market.
She broke her nose and suffered severe bruising but desperate market traders who rang 999 nine times were told she was not a priority.
Now her horrified family have lodged a complaint – saying it is a miracle she did not die from hypothermia.
Granddaughter- in- law Amanda Morris- Gibson said: “She suffers with diabetes and arthritis. If it wasn’t for the market traders keeping her warm, she may not have survived. “She was just left in the street.” After Mrs Gibson tumbled during a blizzard in Doncaster town centre last Friday, traders covered her in towels and used umbrellas to shield her as they waited for paramedics.
The grandmother- of- six, whose husband George died three years ago, said: “It’s a wonder I’m still here. I was just lying there thinking, ‘ Where the hell are they?’
“I was soaking wet through. It’s a good job people were there to help.”
Market trader Laini Birch called the ambulance but says she was told Mrs Gibson was “not a priority”.
She said: “It was really scary. She was absolutely covered in blood, coughing blood up, slipping in and out of consciousness and the ambulance service didn’t seem to care.”
Yorkshire Ambulance Service finally sent an ambulance from 50 miles away in Hull.
After treatment overnight in hospital, Mrs Gibson was allowed back to her home in Doncaster.
Dr David Macklin of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “We are very sorry for the distress caused in relation to this incident.
“It was a busy period with a large number of 999 calls… understandably, we had to prioritise.”
MYSTERY aMERican ‘ duMpEd’ on bRiTain
POLICE fear an American mystery man who has no idea who he is may have been dumped in Britain by his family.
Grey- haired pensioner Roger Curry, who can recall only his name, was found wandering in the village of Credenhill, Herefordshire, on November 7 last year.
He had no ID or money and is being cared for in a nursing home since being discovered outside a bus station, where he was seen with two men.
One, in his 40s, also had an American accent and said he had found Mr Curry lying face- down on a country road.
The man vanished after flagging down an ambulance, fuelling suspicion he was a relative trying to abandon the frail OAP.
Police want help to trace the man.