A MAN who suffered a fractured pelvis after he was knocked over by a car has questioned why it took an ambulance 90 minutes to reach him.

Richard Gardner was making his way home from North Berwick on his electric moped when he was struck by the vehicle.

The accident left the 71-year-old lying on the road with a fractured pelvis, as well as a head wound and various wounds to his knees and legs.

He said: “I was returning home after I was playing petanque in North Berwick and I was driving along the main road coming into Dirleton from North Berwick.

“As I got to the Station Road junction, a car pulled out and knocked me off my electric moped.

“The ambulance was called immediately and when the police arrived an hour later, they checked on the ambulance and there did not seem to be one allocated.

“It was over an hour and a half before it got to me.

“It was two and a half hours before I got to the hospital.”

Now, Richard, who lives off Dirleton’s Manse Road, has questioned why it took the ambulance so long to reach him in Dirleton and if this is a regular occurrence.

He is chairman of the Dirleton Village Association and said: “We are concerned, and have been before, that emergency services are very slow to reach our village.

“We are raising the matter with the Dirleton Village Association, with a view to enquiring with the Scottish Ambulance Service as to what the situation is regarding services, priorities and vulnerabilities.”

Mr Gardner, who previously worked as a solicitor with Drummond Miller in Musselburgh before he retired, has stayed in the village for four years.

He highlighted that Dirleton, which is home to more than 600 people, has a high percentage of elderly residents.

He added: “I’m going to be asking for a personal explanation but I am interested in the bigger picture.”

Tom Drysdale also lives in the village and is the chairman of Gullane Area Community Council, which also covers Dirleton.

He said the issue had been “noted as a matter of concern in the village”.

Mr Drysdale said: “If it took an hour and a bit to come to Dirleton it would have taken the same time to come to North Berwick or Gullane.

“Although it was a fracture, it could have been a heart attack.

“It was unfortunate.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service apologised to Mr Gardner.

She said: “Unfortunately this patient waited longer than we would have liked and we would like to apologise – our calls are prioritised to ensure that the sickest and most seriously injured patients are given the highest priority and we were experiencing a high level of demand at the time.

“We regret that the patient waited longer than we would have liked and we will be contacting the patient directly to apologise and to investigate further.”