A FURIOUS mother was told her 12-year-old son must wait an hour for an ambulance after breaking both wrists in a fall.

Nicola Gibson, of Heworth, York, ended up driving through rush-hour traffic herself to get her son Sam to the Accident & Emergency Department of York Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Miss Gibson, 37, said Sam had been playing on a swing in the park on Monday afternoon, while she was at work, when he fell from about eight foot up. After phoning an ambulance and rushing home, she said the fractures were so severe that her son’s hands had “turned backwards” and “looked deformed”.

She said: “We rang an ambulance and they told us it would be 60 minutes because it was not life-threatening.

“Then somebody rang us back and started asking Sam’s weight and height. He was screaming in agony in the background asking for pain killers.”

After making the 35-minute journey to A&E themselves, Sam was immediately given morphine and taken for surgery.

“The doctor said he was lucky his bones hadn’t come through his wrists,” said his mother.

“He was operated on and his wrists were manipulated and put in plaster. But today he can’t even feed himself.

“I think it’s a disgrace that the ambulance service couldn’t come out to a 12-year-old boy in agony.

“I don’t expect to have to fight through traffic myself in an emergency.”

The incident came to light only a day after The Press revealed Yorkshire Ambulance Service had overspent its fuel budget by £856,000 last year, prompting bosses to urge the public not to phone 999 if avoidable, and to encourage drivers to adopt more eco-friendly driving techniques.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said yesterday: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the patient and his family for any distress caused following their 999 call to us on July 19.

“A manager from the Trust has been in touch with the family to discuss their concerns and we will be looking into the issues raised and keep in touch with them throughout.

“We would like to take this opportunity to wish the patient well in his recovery.”