A Feltham dad has slammed the slow response of police and ambulances after his heavily pregnant wife was trapped in a car accident in Feltham High Street.
Lorry driver Bill Ryan says his family's experience following the crash on April 13 has left him fearful of the capabilities of emergency services in the event of a disaster at Heathrow.
"I was really shocked by how long it took them to reach us," said the father-of-three, of Lemon Grove.
"The first ambulance was fairly quick but the second one took 35 minutes and they couldn't even find us a third.
"As for the police, it took them nearly half an hour to get there. My brother and parents had driven over from Twickenham to help us and they got to us well before the police arrived."
The family of five, including Bill's wife Aileen, 33, and his children, Fred, 12, Sarah, 11, and 10-year-old William, were all in their car when it was hit from behind by a black 4x4, at the top of the High Street.
Mr Ryan, 34, who is now off work suffering whiplash and back pain, said: "We were all in pain and Aileen couldn't physically get herself out of the car so I called for the police and ambulance service straight away.
"I'm disgusted that the emergency services weren't up to dealing with a little crash
like ours. The airport is only a few minutes away and it really worries me to think they couldn't find three ambulances on a quiet Sunday evening - in the end my parents had to drive the kids to join us at St Peter's."
A police spokeswoman confirmed officers did not arrive on the scene until 7.30pm - 27 minutes after the crash.
She added: "Due to the number of ongoing incidents in the borough which were graded as an immediate response, a local unit was not immediately available to attend.
"London Ambulance Staff (LAS) had attended the scene and confirmed that the persons involved did not have serious or life-threatening injuries.
"In such circumstances, police must make a judgement on all the information in front of them as to where local resources must be most urgently deployed.
"The Metropolitan Police Service endeavours to provide the best possible service to all Londoners at all times."
An LAS spokeswoman confirmed two ambulances had been called to the scene at 7.05pm and had taken 10 minutes and 40 minutes to arrive.
She added: "From the information received at the time of the telephone call it was established that none of the patients were in a life-threatening condition.
She found no record of a request for a third ambulance and invited the Ryan family to contact the LAS Patient Advice and Liaison Service to discuss the issue. ..
