A MAN who broke his leg at the bottom of a hill claims he was stranded for two hours because a cash shortage prevented the air ambulance arriving.

But the ambulance service has denied cash was behind the fact the aircraft was not used.

Alistair McFarlane, of Terrington, near Malton, was out with his 11-year-old son when he fell and snapped two bones in his leg, near his home.

"I couldn't move and we didn't have a mobile phone on us so my son had to race home to get his mum to call the ambulance," he said.

Two paramedics arrived to rescue him, but after deciding the hill was too steep they put a call in to the air ambulance helicopter, said Mr McFarlane.

"I was told it would not be coming out because of lack of funds," he said.

"Apparently it had already been out that day to another accident.

"Instead they called another paramedic team and the four of them put me on a stretcher and carried me up the hill.

"I had to wait two hours in the freezing cold until I was rescued."

After being taken to York District Hospital doctors mended Mr McFarlane's bone by using a titanium joint.

"I'm back at work now, but I'm using crutches," he said.

"I have no complaints about the paramedics who rescued me, I'm really grateful.

"What bothered me was that they wouldn't call the air ambulance out, apparently because there was a shortage of money."

A spokeswoman from the North Yorkshire Ambulance Service confirmed the air ambulance was not used, but denied it was due to a lack of funds. "It is possible the weather was bad that day in which case the helicopter could not have been used," she said.

Updated: 11:04 Tuesday, May 07, 2002