AN angry councillor has blasted the ambulance trust as “a failure unless you die” after being forced to wait hours when he dislocated his hip in a Morrison’s café.

Nick Turner, who is a district and town councillor for Frinton, had to have surgery in early March for a hip replacement, which left him temporarily on crutches.

Later in the month, he met with his physiotherapist for the first time at Clacton Hospital before heading to Morrison’s café for a coffee while his wife went shopping.

But after making a “slight movement” Mr Turner’s new hip dislocated, resulting in excruciating pain which he was told he could be forced to endure for five hours.

He said: “I cannot describe the pain - agony only comes close. I had a wad of napkins in my mouth to stop me screaming and I am not a stoic.

“My wife made at least three 999 calls only to be told they had to prioritise, and the ambulance could be up to five hours.

“The pain was on the inside of my leg, so I thought if I fell off the chair, or made any sort of movement, I was in danger of affecting the artery.

“The East of England Ambulance Trust is not able to do what one expects and pays them to do.”

Paramedics arrived two and half hours after Mr Turner suffered his injury and he was given morphine, a cannister of gas, and taken to hospital.

Despite saying the crew was “everything you could hope for and more”, this isn’t the first time Mr Turner has been dissatisfied with the trust’s response time.

Six months before having his gall bladder removed, it became infected, leaving him in “such pain I could not talk”.

After waiting an hour and a half, Mr Turner received a call saying an ambulance would not be available, so his wife had to take him to Colchester General Hospital.

He said: “The ambulance service around here is a failure, unless you die – we are just not looked after and it is twice now I have been left in absolute agony.

“To my knowledge there isn’t an alternative to the ambulance service because it isn’t like you can go private because you can’t book an emergency in advance.

“If you are walking wounded you have to get someone to run you to hospital or claim you are having a heart attack.”

The East of England Ambulance Service has been contacted for comment.