A WOMAN lay injured in a Bradford street for more than an hour-and-a-half because there were no ambulances available on Tuesday night.

Firefighters from Odsal attended the "medical emergency" to provide assistance near the Tesco store in Great Horton Road at around 8.45pm.

A spokesman for the fire station said: "An elderly lady had been pushed over by youths and was injured. She could not get up and appeared to have hurt her back. Police were in attendance and called for an ambulance but were told after one hour and 20 minutes that there were none available.

"We were called out to offer medical assistance and make her comfortable until the ambulance arrived, which it did after a further 15 minutes or so.

"We do not know what the delay was or why there were no ambulances available at that time but it must have been distressing and upsetting for her."

A spokesman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service said: "The service was experiencing a very busy evening with exceptionally high demand at that time. We apologise for the delay."