A WOMAN and a baby had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance to reach them after they were trapped in an overturned car on a country road.

The car had flipped on its roof on the B4520 road from Brecon towards Lower Chapel at 5pm on Monday, February 22.

At the time the ambulance based 10 minutes away at Brecon ambulance station was queuing outside Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where it had been since 1.10pm.

Firefighters released the woman and the child, using cutting equipment, after they they had been trapped inside the vehicle for nearly half an hour.

But they faced an agonising wait for ambulances to attend from Llandrindod Wells, which is 20 miles away and Knighton, 35 miles away.

The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust said a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle did attend the crash within around nine minutes and was joined by a second paramedic about five minutes later.

It did not confirm how long it took the ambulances that took the victims to hospital to arrive.

An ambulance crew member said the first ambulance, from Llandrindod, didn’t arrive until 6pm while the Knighton ambulance took an hour and a quarter to arrive at the scene.

The crew member said: "They were in a car that overturned on the road and it took an hour for an ambulance to get them.

"The Brecon ambulance was queuing at Morriston for nearly five hours.

"The boys in the rapid response vehicles do a good job, but if somebody needs to be taken away from the scene, they need to go. All the rapid response car does is stop the clock.

"If the lady and a baby had been critically injured, then what would have happened? This is just waiting to happen.

"My worst fear is it will be one of my family one day, and there isn’t going to be an ambulance for them. It’s not just a vehicle accident it could be a heart attack."

The incident occurred just two weeks after we highlighted the concerns of an ambulance crew member that Powys was being left without cover due vehicles being dispatched to other areas of Wales.

The crew member said the service should adopt the policy it operates in the Rhondda and Merthyr Tydfil areas where crews only respond to calls within their boundaries, except for the highest priority calls and major incidents.

The insider said during the time of the accident the Brecon ambulance was at Morriston, where it had been since 1.10pm and did not leave until 6.15pm.

Rob Jeffrey, the ambulance service’s head of operations in Powys, said it has to use its resources flexibly to meet demand as an all-Wales service.

He said: "This often means that ambulances work across boundaries, treating patients or conveying them to the most appropriate place to provide them with the care they need.

"It’s a fallacy that ambulances are at stations waiting for the next emergency call – we are busy 24/7 and need to use our resources in the most effective way.

"In this road traffic accident, a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle was on scene in around nine minutes.

"A second paramedic arrived around five minutes later, and they were backed up by two emergency ambulances who conveyed the patients to hospital."

Mr Jeffrey said the service is listening to and addressing staff concerns as part of its efforts to "build a culture of integrity and partnership".

He added: "If the patients involved in this collision have concerns about the way we responded, we would encourage them to contact us directly."

Dyfed-Powys Police said it would like to speak to the driver of a burgundy people carrier who was travelling on the road at the time as they may have information that could help the investigation.

A police spokeswoman said: "If you are the driver or you know who the driver was please contact police. Anyone with information is asked to contact Brecon Police on 101."

The road was closed for nearly two hours following the accident.