A PENSIONER who suffered three broken ribs in a bike crash waited an hour for an ambulance and finally gave up, hitching a lift to hospital instead with a highway patrol officer.

Paul Thomas, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Park South, was on his regular six-mile ride in Dorcan Way when he collided with another cyclist.

The crash left the 67-year-old grandfather with three broken ribs and severe bruises to his hip, hands, shoulder and knee.

An ambulance was called at 12.34pm but when it hadn’t arrived by 1.30pm, Paul said he ended up accepting a lift to Great Western Hospital from a passing highways patrol officer.

“When I hit the other cyclist, the pain was very bad, but I thought the ambulance would be there quickly, when it didn’t arrive I became very distressed,” said the former security officer.

“I was frightened, panicking. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and, of course, at that time I didn’t know I had broken my ribs.

“I felt like no-one gave a damn about me. I was having to conduct my own first aid assessment. I’m an army veteran and I’ve always paid my taxes, I don’t see how this could happen.

“In the end I was in pain and I was just fed up with it all. I had three broken ribs which were so painful and I had given up hope.

“Luckily a passing patrolman from Highways England, basically a member of the public, took me to Great Western Hospital where my wife Ann was waiting. She walked from Park South and still got there before me.

"If he hadn’t given me a lift I’d probably have been waiting for hours longer."

Paul is now recovering at home but has lodged a formal complaint with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust who he says let him down.

“It’s disgusting and I want answers. They always say lessons can be learnt from this, but this shouldn’t be happening. At the end of the day I was lying across the road suffering and they weren’t there, even after three calls.

“I’m 67 years old and I have never had to call for an ambulance in my life. This was the first time and it was very distressing to feel abandoned at the side of the road by them

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman said the delay was due to increased demand on their services, with life-threatening emergency calls taking priority.

“We received two calls about this incident on 14 July – one at 12.34pm and one at 1.02pm – explaining that two cyclists had been involved in a collision," he said.

"Owing to high demand for our services at the time relating to life- threatening emergency calls we were not able to immediately dispatch an ambulance.

“We have contacted Mr Thomas and explained that we are investigating the incident and will continue to communicate with him about the matter. The trust is now handling an extra 470 incidents each day compared with five years ago and demand for our services continues to rise.

"We are pleased to learn that Mr Thomas is recovering well and was discharged from hospital a few hours after his admission.”

The second cyclist in the collision only suffered bruises and did not require hospital treatment.