Bedfordshire Police is being investigated over its involvement in mix-up over county borders which left a crash victim in a ditch for more than two hours.

Biker Richard Collins broke his arm in the crash near Tilbrook, Cambridgeshire, which borders Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

He was eventually taken to hospital in a Bedfordshire Police car.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating.

Mr Collins, 49, was riding on the B645 with friends when he crashed on 20 September. A 999 call was made shortly before 16:00 BST.

There had been confusion over where the crash happened and therefore which county's emergency services should respond.

The crash happened on the B645 outside Tilbrook

Bedfordshire Police said the Northamptonshire force told its staff about the crash at 16:25, but replied saying the accident was not in its patch.

An hour and 15 minutes later, Bedfordshire Police said it was informed that no emergency services had attended so immediately dispatched a police car.

It said due to the distance of travel and difficulties in locating the casualty, the car did not arrive until 18:40.

It was later established the crash occurred in Bedfordshire by a few metres.

Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner Olly Martins said in an open letter last week his force had been receiving "flak", when in fact no ambulance had attended.

East Midlands Ambulance Service, which was alerted to the call, said it could not respond "as quickly as we would have liked".

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-34403061                                                                                                                                                                             

as usual no one cud make a decision coz it might not be on our patch
in the mean time some one cud die                                                                                                                                                                             

Isn't the police motto "To protect and serve" ??(the public)
A man in agony for almost 3 hours for the sake of a couple of gallons of fuel  .... Shame on them                                                                                                                                                                              

I think that everyone is completely missing the point here.
The fault, if there is one, is with the ambulance service, NOT the police.
If someone is injured in a RTC then the ambulance should be attending.
In fact, as I understand it, the first emergency service to call in a road traffic collision is actually the fire brigade! They have the equipment & skills to keep people safe & stable until a suitable ambulance can attend. Ultimately, the police will always be called out anyway by the control room.