Fylde pensioner, 91, left lying in the street with suspected broken leg after fire chiefs refused to turn out

Harry Rawstrone, 72, who was a fire service engineer for 26 years, was desperate to get help for the elderly man after he came across him lying in a rain-soaked gutter of the car park at the St Annes branch of Sainsburys.

The man had a suspected broken leg so Mr Rawstrone phoned for an ambulance but was told it would take four hours.

Worrying for the man’s welfare if he had to lie in a cold puddle for hours, he phoned 999 for the fire and rescue service, hoping they could take the man to his nearby home so he could wait in comfort for the ambulance to arrive.

But Mr Rawstrone, of Freckleton, says he was told it was a health issue and not a job for the fire service.

The ex-fire service employee believes more could have been done, calling it a ‘black day’ for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS)

However, LFRS insists fire engines do not have the space or equipment to transport casualties and says such cases must be handled by those who have sufficient expertise – paramedics and ambulance teams.

North West Ambulance Service says it has no choice but to prioritise all the cases to which it must respond, attending the most urgent emergencies first.

Mr Rawstrone said: “As far as I’m concerned this was a very black day for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. The word 'rescue’ is there for a reason, it is not just about putting out fires.

"Over the years I know they have turned out to remove a Mr Blobby balloon from a tree in Morecambe, cut down a body from a tree in Garstang after the poor man took his life – and rescued a cow from a slurry pit in the countryside.

"If they can do that, why can’t they help a 91 year old man with a suspected broken leg back to his home a few yards away?

"I told them the ambulance would take four hours so they knew it was an emergency.”

After coming across the man at around 4pm on Friday March 17, Mr Rawstrone, his wife and two other shoppers tried to help the man up, but it became clear this wasn’t possible.

It was then that he phoned the emergency services for help.

Mr Rawstrone said he felt increasingly desperate and asked one of the other helpers to go to Sainsbury's to ask if they had a wheelchair they could use.

He added: "Normally we would probably not have tried to move him but had we left him there I honestly think he may not have survived.

“The chair was provided and within 10 minutes the man was home and the wheelchair on its way back to Sainsbury's with a big thank you from all concerned.

"He was taken to hospital with a broken hip after the ambulance arrived at his home around three hours later.”

It is understood the man is still in hospital.

Mr Rawstrone, whose role was to service the equipment used to cut casualties from vehicles after road accidents, believes this incident was well within the Lancashire Fire and Rescue remit.

An LFRS spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the man who has fallen and broken his leg and we hope he makes a swift recovery.

“North West Ambulance Service is the lead agency to deal with medical emergencies; and paramedics and ambulance staff are the experts in their field.

"Fire engines don’t have the space or equipment to safely transport casualties.

“We work in close collaboration with NWAS to help make the people of Lancashire safer.

"One such initiative has just launched; this involves a pilot where non-operational staff working for the fire and rescue service can volunteer as community first responders.

"These volunteers will respond to life threatening emergencies in their communities from their workplace and administer first aid in the first few vital minutes before ambulance crews arrive.”

North West Ambulance Service, under increasing pressure like others across the UK, has come in for criticism for the amount of time ambulances are taking to respond, although in this case it arrived within three hours.

A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said, "We are trying our best to make sure everyone who needs an ambulance gets one and we understand that waiting for an ambulance can be anxious and uncomfortable.

"However, we must prioritise ambulances for life-threatening or serious cases, which means others will wait longer for a response.

“An estimated time frame is given when we are particularly busy to help manage expectations and give patients the opportunity to seek other forms of transport if possible but in most cases, we get there earlier than stated.”