The ambulance service has apologised to a 90 year-old woman, after taking almost 45 minutes to arrive after she fell just a few hundred yards from Bishop Auckland Hospital.
Human error was blamed for the delay, which resulted in the elderly lady lying on the snow-covered road for around 43 minutes.
The woman was injured when she slipped opening the door of a Cable’s taxi on Cockton Hill Road. The driver of the cab called 999, as did a passing police officer.
It is thought that a nearby ambulance crew in the town were on their break, and another, dispatched from Newton Aycliffe, were diverted to a more urgent call.
The woman was eventually taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital, where she underwent an operation.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
