Crashed biker left in ditch after police county border confusion By Sally Chidzoy and David Keller

BBC News Published duration 24 September 2015

image caption The crash happened on the B645 outside Tilbrook

Three police forces have apologised to a motorcycle crash victim left in a ditch because of confusion as to which force should respond.

The biker, who sustained arm injuries, crashed near Tilbrook, Cambridgeshire, which borders Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, on Sunday.

Despite a 999 call going in shortly after 16:00 BST, emergency services did not arrive until 18:40.

The forces told the BBC they were investigating what went wrong.

The motorcyclist, who has not been named, crashed on the B645 close to the border of the three counties.

image caption Tilbrook straddles the border of Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire Police said the Northamptonshire force told its staff about the crash at 16:25, but it replied 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.

The victim was then taken in the car to Bedford Hospital as no ambulance had attended.

image caption The forces have apologised to the victim for the confusion

Bedfordshire Police said it believed East Midlands Ambulance Service was contacted about the crash. The ambulance service told the BBC it could not find the incident on its logs.

Cambridgeshire Police said it remained unclear as to which county the crash occurred in, adding it was "clear that a better response should have been given".

Ch Insp Nick Lyall of Bedfordshire Police said the forces "would like to apologise to the man involved", adding they were investigating what went wrong.