RESIDENTS of a Newport cul-de-sac say their worst fears had been realised when the emergency entrance to their street had to be forced open with bolt cutters after an ambulance was unable to gain entry.
It comes after an elderly resident of Forge Mews, in Bassaleg, fell backwards whilst talking to a neighbour and broke their wrist on Saturday afternoon, April 9.
According to reports, the ambulance crew did not know the code to open the access gate which forced another resident to use bolt cutters to open the entrance – which took about 23 minutes.
The street has been locked in a dispute with Newport City Council since its access bridge – Old Bassaleg Bridge – was closed last year over fears it would collapse.
And despite a temporary entrance being set up off the A467, earlier this year the council took the decision to close the access point to Forge Mews and reserve its use for emergency services only.
The move was met with fierce opposition by residents, with one of their chief concerns being the amount of time it would take emergency services to access the road if the entrance was locked.
“Our worst fear was proved correct,” said resident Tony Brooks, who witnessed the elderly person’s fall.
“The person – who is in their 70s – had visited a neighbour's home and had tripped backwards out of their porch area and fell backwards.
“I went to the person’s aid, and it was clear that they were in a lot of pain and that they needed to go to the hospital.
“Two other residents came out to help and called for an ambulance – which arrived in 44 minutes.”
However, when the ambulance arrived at the bolted emergency entrance – they were unable to get through to Forge Mews.
“They were outside the access gate but couldn’t get through because they didn’t know or hadn’t been told what the code was to unlock the gate,” Mr Brooks added.
“The person who had made the phone call to the ambulance went to get their bolt cutters to break the lock and open the gate.
“He broke his bolt cutters in the process, and we eventually got the gate open around 23 minutes after ambulance had arrived.
“But what if the situation had been far more serious? This bolted gate could be the difference between life and death.”
Residents are now urging Newport City Council to rethink its decision on padlocking the gate, but say they’ve not had any response when contacting them.
It’s understood that the elderly resident is in good spirits and is recovering.
Samantha Hurn, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Locality Manager in South Aneurin Bevan, said: “We had a call shortly before 2pm on Saturday to reports a person had fallen on Forge Mews in Bassaleg.
“We sent an emergency ambulance to the scene, and after a short delay trying to enter the cul-de-sac via the emergency access point, the patient was assessed and taken to hospital.
“Vehicular access is important for the emergency services to provide a swift and effective response, and we work closely with local authorities, including Newport City Council, to ensure that this is maintained.
“We would like to send our best wishes to the patient on their recovery.”
A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: "The council has ensured that emergency access is available to Forge Mews via the A467.
"A procedure has been developed with the blue light services to facilitate a controlled access process which should have been invoked during the incident on Saturday afternoon.
"We are currently investigating with our partners as to what caused the delay on this occasion to ensure there is no repeat of this in future."
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