Chislehurst Road hit-and-run victim waited 54 minutes for ambulance (From News Shopper)

Chislehurst Road, Bromley, hit-and-run: London Ambulance Service confesses to 54-minute wait for victim

2:57pm Thursday 18th October 2012 in Bromley By Heloise Wood

LONDON Ambulance Service has apologised for keeping a hit-and-run victim waiting for almost an hour.

They have invited the man, who is in a critical but stable condition in hospital, to phone their "patient experiences department" if he wants more information on what happened.

The cyclist, in his 60s, was hit by a car in Chislehurst Road, by Berryfield Close, in Bromley at around 9.20pm on Monday evening (October 15) and the ambulance was called at 9.25pm.

Today London Ambulance Service (LAS) confirmed the ambulance did not arrive until 54 minutes later, at 10.19pm.

Government targets dictate that 75 per cent of calls regarding Category A incidents (the most life-threatening) should be answered within eight minutes and 95 per cent within 19 minutes.

The most recent statistics available on the LAS website show in May 2012 74 per cent of Category A incidents were responded to within eight minutes in Bromley.

Ambulance staff treated the victim for his injuries before taking him to Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill.

A LAS spokesman said: "We were called at 9.25pm on 15 October to reports of a road traffic collision at Chislehurst Road.

"Unfortunately due to very high demand we were unable to send an ambulance as quickly as we would have liked and we are sorry for the delay.

"The ambulance arrived at 22.19pm.

"If the patient would like more information on what happened we would invite to them to contact our patient experiences department on 0203 069 0240."

Equipment from the scene, including an emergency foil blanket, was still in Chislehurst Road the next morning.

The car driver did not stop at the scene and Bromley police said inquiries were still ongoing.

Any witnesses to the collision are asked to call the police on 101.

In a separate incident earlier in July, LAS revealed they received a 999 call 90 minutes before a fatal house fire in Ranmore Path, St Mary Cray.

The ambulance was originally called at 9.08pm but did not turn up until around 10.50pm.

A report into the incident is due to be published later this month.