The ambulance service has apologised after a 90-year-old man with a fractured hip had to lie on a pavement for more than three hours while waiting for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

Neighbours took duvets and hot water bottles out in a bid to keep dementia sufferer Fred Coleman warm after he fell off his bike near his Eynesbury home.

Stepdaughter Alison Smith, who lives in London, said she drove from Romford and still arrived at Hinchingbrooke Hospital before the ambulance which brought Mr Coleman in.

Mr Coleman, of Linley Road, is now recovering after undergoing surgery on his hip.

Mrs Smith said her stepfather had received good care from both the ambulance crew and the hospital, but she was angry at the delay and questioned whether the ambulance service had sufficient resources to cope with the population growth in St Neots, where thousands of new houses are planned

"I rang the ambulance service and was told there would probably be a five-hour wait as he wasn't a priority," she said.

"How is this right and what is the local MP doing about this disgraceful ambulance service and its lack of resources?

"I drove from London to Hinchingbrooke and got there before the ambulance bringing my stepfather from Eynesbury."

Mrs Smith said: "It's no good building more and more houses like the new Wintringham estate in St Neots if the government are not investing in health care infrastructure to support the expanding population, including the ambulance service.

"How can it be right for a 90-year-old with dementia to lay on the pavement for thee hours with a fractured neck or femur and rely on neighbours and strangers to sit over three hours with him because there is insufficient funding for the ambulance service?"

Mrs Smith said they had been fortunate that a passing nurse had seen Mr Coleman and thought he had fractured his hip.

She said the accident happened at lunchtime on Friday when her stepfather, who lives with wife Pat, 87, had fallen off his bike 100 yards from home after going out to buy fish and chips.

Mrs Smith wants to know how many ambulances are available to serve the St Neots area.