The daughter of an elderly woman who had to wait around four hours for an ambulance after she was involved in an accident has branded the service “a disgrace”.

Debbie Saville said her 68-year-old mother Pat Larke was forced to sit in her car at the scene of the two-car crash on the A1060 at White Roding, on Wednesday, March 2, while she waited. The accident partially blocked the road, and Mrs Larke was instructed by the police not to leave her vehicle until she had been assessed by paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service.

The service has apologised about the delay and said they were contacted at 5.28pm, but due to “unprecedented call demand” they were not able to dispatch an ambulance until 9.30pm.

Mrs Larke was travelling to Hatfield Heath with her granddaughter when the incident occurred, and was eventually treated for pain in her knee, but was not taken to hospital.

Mrs Saville, 42, said: “How on earth can that possibly happen? It’s disgraceful. I was angry at first, but now I just feel let down by the ambulance service, and it does cause you to lose faith in them.

“My mum wasn’t badly hurt, but the police made her sit in her car until the ambulance arrived because they didn’t want her to move. It was cold and she had to leave the car running to keep the heaters on.

“We still haven’t received a genuine reason as to why it took them so long to get there, they gave my mum a slip of paper at the scene to fill out and send off to complain.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: ““We would like to apologise to the patient for the wait and any distress this may have caused.

“The East of England Ambulance Service received a 999 call at 5.28pm on March 2 to a road traffic collision in White Roding. The call was coded as a non life-threatening incident and as a result of unprecedented call demand on Wednesday, we were not able to dispatch a clinical to the collision until 9.30pm.

“A paramedic in a rapid response vehicle attended where two patients were assessed. They were discharged at the scene and did not require transport to hospital. We would ask the patient to get in touch if they have any questions or concerns.”