A CRICKET player who broke his ankle during a match had to wait more than two hours before an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.

Richard Parker was playing in his first game of the season at The Lawns, Slingsby, when he came down on his ankle and heard a ‘crack’.

He was left lying on the field in the cold for over two hours after a 999 call was made for him to be taken to hospital.

After being told by the emergency services not to move Richard, 43, of Helmsley, was left in the middle of the field from about 8.30pm until a paramedic turned up one hour and a half later with the ambulance following about three quarters of an hour after that.

Richard said: "It was extremely painful; it was the most pain I had ever been in. I was lying on the floor for ages and it was getting cold, I was just glad that it didn't rain.

"I was told not to move so I was just lying on the floor with a few of the other players stood around me. They said that apparently something had happened in Kirby so the ambulance had to divert but by this time it was about 11.30pm."

Mr Parker was eventually taken to York Hospital where he says he had to wait a further two hours in the Accident and Emergency Department before he was seen to and had a temporary cast put on his ankle.

He will now have to go back in to hospital to have an operation to pin his ankle together before a new cast is put on.

David Williams, Deputy Director of Operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said that the team were keen to speak to Mr Parker about the incident and apologised for the wait that he suffered.

He said: "We are sorry that Mr Parker is unhappy with our response to the 999 call made on his behalf when he suffered an injury at The Lawns, Slingsby on Tuesday, May 20.

"We are keen to speak to Mr Parker directly and would urge him to contact our Patient Relations team on 0345 122 0535 so that we can look into this matter further for him."