THE family of a 16-year-old girl from Yate left bleeding from a head wound and drifting in and of consciousness after a collision with a car are ‘disgusted’ they had to wait for an hour and a half for an ambulance.

Hannah Morgan was in a collision with a car as she crossed Cranleigh Court Road last Wednesday, November 18. The South Gloucestershire and Stroud College student hit her head as she fell to the ground, leaving her semi-conscious and covered in blood after the accident at 5.30pm.

The driver of the car and a passing cyclist stopped to help Hannah, of The Ridge, and called for an ambulance but the teenager’s parents and two police cars arrived at the scene before any sign of a paramedic.

Hannah’s mum Dawn told the Gazette: “Within minutes of calling the police two cars and two officers arrived. They radioed the ambulance service at least three times and the final time were told there wasn’t an ambulance available.

“The police were really embarrassed but said we might be better off taking her to hospital ourselves.

“We were just sat there on the side of the road, Hannah was covered in blood and I just kept thinking when is an ambulance going to come and help us. There wasn’t even a rapid response vehicle or anything.”

After an hour of waiting at the roadside, Dawn, 48, took Hannah home when an ambulance crew eventually turned up at the scene of the accident which police escorted back to the Morgan’s home. The teenager was then finally taken to Southmead Continued on page 3 Hospital 90 minutes after the original 999 call.

“Within minutes of the crew arriving she started feeling sick and was then sick in the ambulance four or five times,” said Dawn.

“Obviously I worried then because she had received a head injury and it had been such a long wait.”

Hannah’s grandfather John Rance, from Wickwar, said: “We have no problem with the police, the driver or the paramedics or hospital staff – it is just the length of time it took the ambulance to get there.

“They say the first hour is so important with a head injury. I just think it is disgusting. She could have died and my daughter keeps crying over what could have happened.”

Hannah had a CT scan and five stitches in her eyebrow and suffered bruising in the accident, which her family say was not the driver’s fault as Hannah was not using a nearby pedestrian crossing.

Her mum added: “She needs a bit of time to and is very tired but we are trying to get back to normal.

“We would just like to know why it took so long. You expect police to take a while to turn up but not an ambulance.”

A spokesman for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We understand our patients want a timely response alongside excellent patient care and we are sorry for the delay on this occasion - there was a significant demand for our services in the area at the time and we have to prioritise calls accordingly.

“We would encourage the patient and her family to contact our patient experience team to discuss any concerns.”