Evening Press leader

In an emergency we dial 999 for an immediate response. Yet at Selby yesterday, a woman had to wait for all of 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

Fortunately the woman was not seriously ill and is now recovering at home. In other circumstances, a patient could have died.

North Yorkshire Ambulance Service today blamed a communications breakdown. A spokesman said that the service has already learned from this incident and will take steps to ensure it will not be repeated.

This reassurance is much needed. People in Selby and across North Yorkshrie will be shaken by the very public failure of what we all expect to be a failsafe service.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.