Sheffield footballer, 19, waited SEVEN hours in agony for ambulance after dislocating knee

Neil Asquith said one of the players, Lucas was playing with his team mates for Sheffield North End at Colley Park on Thursday evening (May 27) when one of the players got tackled and landed on his knee.

He said he rang the ambulance at 7.31pm, immediately after the incident but was told that they would get a paramedic to ring him back.

And it was not until 10pm when they heard back from the paramedics.

"Before that, Lucas’ mum kept ringing the ambulance two to three times to find out where the ambulance was. They told us there were a lot of emergencies picked up so they couldn’t give us the time.

"The paramedics finally rang back after 2 hours and 20 minutes and they asked if we could get into the car (to go to the hospital).

"We said no, that's impossible because he’s in agony and we are not taking any risk by moving him. He's not a little boy anymore, he's 6ft 1," he said.

The 52-year-old said the ambulance finally arrived at the park at 2.25am and the paramedics informed them that they had a busy night.

He said: "Three paramedics came with a stretcher and something to support his leg. By this time, it was already freezing. We only had our shorts and our t-shirts on.

"The paramedics said they've been to Barnsley before that and it was a very busy night. After that we were told he had to wait outside the ambulance before he got to be treated at 10am the next day.

"In total, he had to wait around 14 to 15 hours (just to get treatment)...I never thought it'd be seven hours (for the ambulance to arrive). Even an hour is a long time."

However, he said it was not the paramedics' fault and he believed that emergency services need to receive more funding so they could have more ambulances on standby.

He said Lucas is now recuperating at home and walking with crutches.

"He’s on crutches now and he’s got the kneecap back in,” he said.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been contacted for comments.