By Richard Ault
The Sentinel (Stoke)
STAFFORDSHIRE, England — A driver claims she was injured when an ambulance responding to an emergency crashed into her car.
Amanda Phoenix has been left with back pain after the ambulance hit the right-hand side of her Fiat 500 at the roundabout at the bottom of Basford bank on the A53.
The 54-year-old said the ambulance stopped briefly before driving off again.
Now she has been left wondering whether she will be able to claim on her insurance.
Mrs Phoenix, from Scholar Green, said: “I was on the roundabout, near to the old MFI. The lights had gone green and I had pulled out, then I remember seeing the flashing lights and looking in my mirror - then the ambulance hit me.
“I pulled over. The ambulance had stopped in front of me but then no-one got out and the ambulance drove off again.
“I tried to get out, but my door wouldn’t open.
“I thought ‘hang on, no-one has got out to see if I am OK and I haven’t got a registration number for the insurance’.
“I thought, ‘what am I supposed to do now, am I going to have to follow the ambulance’? I didn’t know what to do.”
Another ambulance arrived shortly after and remained with Mrs Phoenix as she waited for the police following the accident at 2.45pm on Tuesday.
She added: “We were waiting for 30 minutes but when they hadn’t arrived the ambulance man called them and they said they were not coming out. I had only had the car for four days when it happened.
“I don’t know what the full damage to the car is yet. It looks like it needs a new wing mirror and the door won’t open.
“I have had backache since it happened. I had a slipped disc and a trapped nerve three months ago and I really don’t want to go through that again.”
Mrs Phoenix’s husband Kevin said: “The incident was reported to the police, who did not attend the scene and when contacted later said they were aware of the accident and had the registration of the ambulance, but would not give us the information for our insurance. “I thought it was illegal to leave the scene of an accident, whether on an emergency call or not.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
A spokesman said: “Another crew had witnessed the incident.
“Both ambulances had stopped, but as the ambulance involved had a very poorly patient on board — who was being taken by blue light to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire — a clinical decision was made that it should continue its journey and the other ambulance should stay.
“It was only very minor damage and the ambulance involved continued to be used throughout the day.”
The spokesman said the matter would be resolved by the separate insurance companies.
A police spokesman said: “Colleagues from the ambulance service reported a collision just after 3pm involving one of their vehicles on Etruria Road. “It was a minor damage only collision with no serious injuries sustained.”
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