A man who travelled for almost four hours to reach is injured mother managed to arrive before the ambulance did. According to BBC, Mark Clements took a bus, tube and two trains to get from London to Devon after his mother fell and broke her hip. He managed to travel nearly 200 miles - or approximately 320 kms - and arrive before the ambulance from a station 10 minutes away.
Daily Mail reports that the first call to the ambulance service was placed at 9 am, which means that Mr Celements' mother - 77-year-old Margaret - had to wait for seven hours to receive medical help.
"My mother was lying in an awkward position on a cold conservatory floor and was unable to move," said Mr Clements to BBC.
"An ambulance station is less than 10 minutes from my mother's home," he added.
To the Daily Mail he said: "'Despite our attempts to keep her warm, my mother was extremely cold, distressed and in so much pain that she said she just wanted to die. It was really hard on my father. He was very worried."
South Western Ambulance Service apologised for the delay and said it was experiencing "an unprecedented rise in demand". It said it was sorry it was "not able reach this patient sooner" but an assessment was carried out and there was considered to be "no immediate threat to life", reports BBC.
Mr Clements' mother had a hip operation on Sunday and is recovering.
