A TEENAGE girl who injured her back while sledging was flown to hospital by air ambulance.

The girl was enjoying the snow at Tollgate Pit, Stanway, when the accident happened.

The emergency services were called at 2.44pm on Sunday and a rapid response team arrived on site within four minutes. The teenager was flown to Queen’s Hospital, Romford, for treatment.

This was the only snow-related incident attended by the air ambulance across Colchester at the weekend.

The number of calls for ambulances in Colchester was actually lower than this time last year. There were 113 calls on Saturday and Sunday, compared with 114 over the same weekend in 2009.

Joy Hale, spokeswoman for the East of England Ambulance Service, said the low figures showed the public had heeded warnings about staying safe during the cold snap.

She said: “We put many messages out to the public to make sure they stayed safe. It’s been heeded.”

Contingency plans put in place by the ambulance service for extreme weather conditions were put into force during the heavy snow. Measures included a fleet of more than 20 4x4 vehicles, which were used to ensure staff could get to work safely.