A Monmouth man has told how he had to wait two hours for an ambulance after falling and breaking his leg on Saturday night.

Richard Bevan was walking home from a party just after midnight when he slipped down a bank on Chippenham Field, breaking his leg in two places.

A passer-by immediately phoned for help but Richard says he then faced an agonising two-hour wait for an ambulance to arrive.

"It was ridiculous. We waited 45 minutes and nothing had come so we rang again," said Richard.

A paramedic in a rapid response vehicle arrived but Richard describes him as being "completely ill-equipped".

"He didn't even have a torch even though it was the middle of the night.

"After an hour-and-a-half I was starting to get irate – not with the paramedic – but I was losing my temper.

"I was freezing cold, in shock and shaking. My wife and aunt had gone to get a blanket for me.

"It was just over two hours before the ambulance got there from Coleford, and I have to say the paramedics were fantastic.

"They got me into the back of the ambulance and spent a long time stabilising me before taking me to hospital."

Richard has had a plate put into his leg and will now spend at least 12 weeks in a plaster cast – meaning a lengthy spell off from his job at a builders' merchants in Monmouth.

"I think the problem is because we are on the border, everyone passes the buck."

Ambulance campaigner Mat Davies said he was disappointed to hear about the time it took for an ambulance to arrive.

"My thoughts go out to him and his family. He has suffered an unacceptable ordeal," he said.

"This case shows us why we need a dedicated emergency ambulance in Monmouth.

"At the moment we only have a dedicated rapid-response vehicle which responds solely to life-threatening calls.

"The reason why emergency ambulances are not often in town is because performance targets tend to suck them into high population zones, far away from Monmouth.

"The bottom line is that the Welsh Ambulance NHS Trust requires further funding. They are witnessing a four per cent budget cut in real terms and a four per cent increase in demand.

"This is partly because of a seven per cent cut in the Welsh Government's budget from Westminster, however, also there are also very real problems with the management and the design of the trust.

"My research at Cardiff University has revealed that the fragmentation of the trust and its partners in the NHS leads to the lack of accountability and improvements.

"It has been one year since I first raised the issue about ambulances in the Beacon, and we still need a scrutiny inquiry into ambulance services.

"I will meet with the chairman of the Welsh Ambulance Trust in a few weeks at the Shire Hall with the Monmouth health group and explain what has happened and demand an explanation."

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay said he was concerned to hear Richard's story.

He said: "I'm seeking urgent clarification from the ambulance service as to why a constituent apparently had to endure a wait of two hours after falling in the town on Saturday night.

"I have previously been assured that these sort of delays were to be a thing of the past with an ambulance effectively circling the town on standby.

"I hope this case will be investigated very quickly so that there is no repeat of this kind of unacceptable delay in the future."

The Welsh Ambulance Service were not available for comment at the time of going to press.