A CARNFORTH woman has spoken out after it took four hours for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of an accident.

Dorothy Dickenson, of Victoria Street, was forced to use the ambulance service after her 72-year-old friend fell and fractured his leg.

The pensioner fell at 11.45am, a doctor arrived at the scene and called for an ambulance at 12.20am but the paramedics did not arrive until 4.45pm that afternoon.

Mrs Dickenson has spoken out after the ambulance service was last week described in a report as "one of the best in the country." She said: "It took four hours for the ambulance to come which I think is unacceptable. I'm sure he would have recovered more quickly if he had received prompt medical care. Any improvement of this kind of service would be gratefully received."

An ambulance eventually had to come from Preston and, having picked up the pensioner, turned the wrong way onto the motorway and ended up in Kendal.

While waiting for the paramedics Mrs Dickenson was told not to give her friend any drink or painkillers in case he needed an operation.

He was treated in hospital and needed four screws to fix his broken leg.

Last week a report revealed that Lancashire Ambulance Service attended 69 per cent of emergency calls within eight minutes - making it the third best service in the country.

Chief Executive, David Hill: "Despite our position we will not relax efforts to secure further improvements with the consequent benefit to our patients."