Fresh concerns have been raised about ambulance cover after a stand-in vehicle got stuck in mud while following directions from a sat nav.

John Taylor and son Ian were out walking their dog in Sible Hedingham at about noon last Sunday.

When the pair returned to John’s home in Yeldham Road, near Hedingham School, the rest of the family told them they’d seen an ambulance turn up a byway that leads to the former Tanners Dairy site.

Knowing how narrow the track is and puzzled by where they were going, John and Ian went to look and found the private ambulance.

They claim its wing mirror had been knocked off by a branch and the vehicle was stuck in deep mud.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman apologised for the delay.

She said a paramedic and a community first responder had initially been sent to the patient and an ambulance later requested to transport them to hospital.

However, the ambulance had to be diverted to another patient who had suffered a suspected stroke, so a private ambulance was sent but got stuck in mud.

A third ambulance was then sent and the patient was taken to Colchester General Hospital with abdominal pain.

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