A CYCLIST injured in a crash had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance to reach him in an East Oxford street.

Paramedics were called at 2.39pm after the cyclist collided with a car door in Union Street but arrived only at 3.51pm, a South Central Ambulance Service spokeswoman said.

The cyclist was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital after being treated at the scene, she said.

She could not give details of his condition, and the ambulance service was reviewing the incident.

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The wait was branded “unacceptable” by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who called for a full investigation.

The incident happened after the Oxford Mail revealed last week that a man involved in a car crash on a road near Faringdon in April waited 90 minutes for an ambulance.

There has long been concern about response times in more rural areas – which take longer to reach – but city responses are generally far quicker.

Witness John Styles said he was buying coffee in Cowley Road when he saw the injured man lying in the street surrounded by police on Sunday.

The Wallingford software engineer, 50, said the cyclist was a young man, possibly in his early twenties.

“He was conscious and they were talking to him, but at one point the man’s mother came in to Costa to ask if they could bring him inside. He must have been getting cold outside, but I assume she was convinced not to move him.

“We were all sitting there thinking that, given this is Cowley Road and not the middle of nowhere, they should definitely have got an ambulance there quicker than that.”

Mr Smith said: “This is an awful and agonising wait for someone injured to endure and it is obviously unacceptable.

“The ambulance service needs to look into this thoroughly and promptly and be open with the public about what went wrong, and what they are doing to put things right.”

In 2013/14, 91.61 per cent of the most serious city 999 calls were reached within eight minutes, against a target of 75 per cent and a county low of 52.38 per cent in rural West Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire’s Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has demanded a more in-depth explanation of the April 90-minute wait.

Deputy chairman Susanna Pressel said of the East Oxford collision: “This is absolutely shocking. I’m asking for an urgent explanation. Ambulances usually arrive very quickly in the city.”

Michelle Archer, SCAS spokeswoman, said: “We are now reviewing the call and are therefore not able to comment further until the review has been completed.”

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