An ambulance trust has apologised after a man having a heart attack said he was told to get a lift to hospital.

Graham Reagan, 60, had to be driven to York in the early hours of the morning by son Charlie after waking up with chest pains.

“I’d had indigestion, or so I thought, for a couple of days, and then on 17 December I went to bed early feeling rough,” Graham said.

In the early hours, Mr Reagan said the pains in his chest grew worse and he asked his wife, Anna,m to call for an ambulance.

Graham, who lives in Norton, said Anna was asked “can you get to hospital” as the nearest ambulance was about 20 to 30 miles away.

“My wife doesn’t drive, but fortunately my son was with us and he drove me to York hospital,” he said.

“I was in the back of the car - the pain was getting worse and I was now getting quite upset,” he said.

On arrival Graham said they found the entrance to A&E had also been re-routed.

“So, we then had to walk out of the hospital grounds and back in - by which time I’m collapsing,” he added.

He said staff at the hospital were “absolutely brilliant” and arranged for him to be transferred to Castle Hill Hospital for treatment after a heart attack was confirmed.

However, he said he was faced with a further 35-minute delay while he waited for an ambulance to take him.

Mr Reagan said he wanted to share his experience to raise awareness.

“Today might be the day when there aren’t enough ambulances, and you might be the person who is waiting for one,” he added.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) said staff were doing their best to respond as quickly as possible to all emergencies

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said they were sorry to hear of Mr Reagan’s concerns.

They said, in common with other ambulance services, they had been under “significant operational pressures for some time” and, while staff did their best to respond quickly, they acknowledged “some patients are having to wait longer for an ambulance response”.

This week the military begin helping to tackle a Covid-related staffing crisis at the ambulance service - days after the service temporarily suspended the non-emergency transportation of patients to York Hospital.

Forty military personnel will work alongside YAS staff in transferring patients between hospitals, transporting others discharged from hospital and assisting the non-emergency patient transport service.

They will be trained in driving ambulances, manual handling, kit familiarisation and basic life support and will begin working within two weeks.

The service has been battling to cope with worsening staff shortages exacerbated by the highly transmissible Covid Omicron variant.