Footballer’s 45-minute wait for ambulance

1:23pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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A DEAF man who collapsed following a football match, had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance, an inquest heard.

Martyn Burton, 31, of Tanners Street, Ramsbottom, was lying on a changing room floor suffering chest and jaw pains before help arrived.

The inquest in Bridgend, South Wales, heard when an ambulance arrived on February 4 last year, Mr Burton had stopped breathing.

He was pronounced dead at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, at 6.05 pm that day.

Mr Burton was the player-manager of a deaf football team which had travelled from Lancashire earlier that day for a tournament at Llantwit Major, near Bridgend.

After playing a part in his side's 4-3 victory, Mr Burton went to the changing rooms with teammate Mark Guerrieria.

After showering, Mr Guerrieria said another teammate approached him shortly afterwards asking for help as Mr Burton had fallen to the floor and had remained there.

Mr Guerrieria told the inquest he started resuscitation on his friend when he stopped breathing and carried on doing it for 10 minutes.

He said: "Finally the ambulance arrived. I was getting angry - it took ages."

Bridgend coroner Philip Walters recorded an open verdict.