Biker left for hours after crash as 3 police forces bicker over who to send
AN INJURED biker was left by the roadside for nearly three hours as three police forces bickered over who would attend – and paramedics decided not to turn up at all.
richard Collins, 49, shattered his right forearm after ploughing into a ditch bordering three counties.
Even though a passing motorist called 999, police took two hours and 40 minutes to arrive due to a series of mix-ups later described as ‘appalling’ by a police chief.
adding insult to injury, the ambulance service that took the original 999 call failed to send a vehicle after it decided the severe break – which left the lower part of Mr Collins’ forearm at a right-angle to the rest of the bone – was ‘non life-threatening’.
Mr Collins was riding with friends when he came off his honda VFr800 just before 4pm on Sunday near the village of tilbrook in Cambridgeshire, which borders Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
Cambridgeshire Police received a call about the crash on the B645 at 4.20pm from Northamptonshire colleagues but referred it back.
Bedfordshire Police was told about the accident at 4.25pm by Northamptonshire but told them it was not in their patch.
During the wait, Mr Collins twice called the police 101 non- emergency number himself and was told that someone was ‘on their way’.
Eventually, at 5.40pm, Bedfordshire Police discovered that no police or ambulance had attended and immediately dispatched a police car – which didn’t arrive until 6.40pm. Northamptonshire officers turned up a few minutes later.
Mr Collins, of Sandy, Bedfordshire, said yesterday that he was still waiting for an apology from the three forces, adding: ‘I read that they had issued an apology from all three forces, but it was through a statement and not to me.’
the married engineer said he crashed after his wheel skidded. he added: ‘We came round a corner where the road was a bit degraded. My wheel slipped and I went to the other side of the road. there was oncoming traffic and a ditch on the other side. I chose the ditch.
‘I managed to get back out of the ditch and on the road and sat and waited. I was in quite a lot of pain. I was trying not to move my arm. It was at a right angle – bent, floppy – and I had bruising.’
he said that when Bedfordshire Police turned up, ‘I didn’t really care as I was in pain’. he added: ‘I was cold and I was thinking there must have been something more serious going on.
‘the officer could not believe nobody had responded and took me to hospital. the crash could have been worse, but the police response was a bit disappointing.’
after Bedfordshire Police referred the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, olly Martins, its Police and Crime Commissioner, said: ‘What happened is quite appalling.’
all three forces have promised to review their procedures, and richard henderson, from East Midlands ambulance Service, said: ‘We were experiencing a high volume of life-threatening calls and were unable to respond as quickly as we would have liked.’
In July, injured mother Lamara Bell, 25, was left for three days by the body of her boyfriend John Yuill, 28, after their car crashed down an embankment of the M9 near Stirling in Scotland.
the accident was reported to police but not followed up, and she died in hospital four days later.
‘What happened is quite appalling’