A UNION boss has announced his resignation after branding a ballot which averted a Lancashire ambulance strike as "a joke".

Neil Cosgrove, head of Lancashire's chapter of the Association of Professional Ambulance Workers, said he was resigning after some members failed to receive voting forms.

He also claimed the union had delayed the ballot and altered the wording without his consultation.

And the State Registered Paramedic said that APAP's head office had failed to offer any kind of support to the Lancashire branch in the nine months he had been head.

The ballot of the three main unions in Lancashire, the Transport and General Workers Union, UNISON and APAP, asked 1,000 of the county's workers if they wanted to hold a strike vote.

It was agreed to accept a five-point deal on working conditions because of the lack of response to the vote.

The deal gives meal break times except in major emergencies; rest periods after harrowing or tiring jobs; greater ability to take leave; better working hours for staff reserves; a secondary break in addition to a main meal break.

Mr Cosgrove, 40, of Preston, joined the service in 1992 and works at Preston ambulance station.

He said: "The feeling in Lancashire is that staff are very aggrieved with the way things are going.

"They feel that the union has done very little for them.

"The head office delayed the ballot and altered the wording without consulting me and then failed to send the forms out to every member.

"I was under the impression that we had 240 members, yet we only sent out 158 ballots. If we only have 158, why have I not been informed about the loss in membership?"

Mr Cosgrove also criticised the members of the union for not taking more of an interest in the industrial action.

He also confirmed that many of the union's members were leaving to go to the Ambulance Service Union, which already has one-tenth of Lancashire's ambulance workforce.

"I have asked for a branch meeting to nominate someone for my position.

"I will carry on with the role until they find someone but it won't be indefinitely."

Mark Weatherhead, general secretary of APAP, said he had spoken to Mr Cosgrove and added: "I think he was letting off a bit of hot air.

"Neil was upset by many things, I've apologised for our shortfall but I've explained to him that the head office is based in Somerset and that he needs to ring us as well.

"Neil is also upset with the membership and for their apathy."

He said that he delayed and changed the wording on the ballot himself for legal reasons and brought it in line with those of the TGWU and UNISON.

Mr Weatherhead also said it was confusion at APAP's Lancashire branch that led to only 158 members being sent ballot forms.