Royal cop dies 14 years after crash
Ambulance waits spark patient fears
A ROYAL protection officer has died 14 years after he suffered devastating injuries in a car crash near Balmoral.
John Alcock, 54, was a passenger in a marked police vehicle when it was in a crash with another car in August 2003.
John, who was left in a persistent vegetative state, was cared for at home in Aberdeenshire by his devoted partner Donna.
She described the former Royal Marine last night as a “wonderful family man”.
Doug Keil, former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “John’s family did an amazing job in looking after him and the wider police family did what it could to assist. All of our thoughts are with his loved ones.”
Marco Bologna, from Italy, admitted careless driving over the crash. ALMOST 2000 people waited more than an hour for an ambulance in the Lothians last year, figures reveal.
The Scottish Ambulance Service said 1936 people with non-life threatening illnesses waited more than an hour for a crew from September 2016 to August this year.
The figure has prompted concerns that paramedics are overstretched.
But the service said it represented just 2.4 per cent of total calls and those with life-threatening conditions are reached within an average of less than six minutes.
Lib Dem MSP Alex ColeHamilton said: “Paramedics are overstretched and these figures show concerns are far from scaremongering.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Ambulance Service have a record high budget of over £220million.”