A Coroner has called for a safety review of “ineffective” driver training by Yorkshire Ambulance Service after a disabled motorist was killed in a crash with a rapid response car on a 999 call in Bradford.

Paramedic Michael Griffiths, 41, was driving through a red light in Dick Lane when his vehicle hit a car being driven by 67-year-old David Forsyth who was turning right through a green light.

Mr Forsyth, of Tyersal Court, Tyersal, died ten days later after contracting pneumonia because of spinal injuries he suffered in the crash, an inquest into his death heard yesterday.

Mr Griffiths was heading up Dick Lane from Thornbury in response to the emergency call.

Coroner Roger Whittaker said the paramedic had clearly not understood the “fundamental principles” that a red light should be regarded in the same way as a give way sign when heading to emergencies, as spelled out in official guidance.

The Coroner said: “I am concerned that training with regard to drivers in emergency conditions is ineffective. It needs reviewing, bringing up-to-date and constantly refreshing.”

Mr Griffiths had been sent the wrong way by his satellite navigation system, which led him to the crash scene at about 10am on August 2, 2009, the hearing was told. Minutes before the crash his control room had received information that the call-out was not an emergency.

Martin Crossley, a solicitor for Mr Forsyth’s family, suggested to Mr Griffiths he had told police at the scene that he could not remember the colour of the lights at the time, which Mr Griffiths denied.

Mr Crossley said Mr Griffiths had realised shortly before the accident that he was going the wrong way. Mr Griffiths again denied the suggestion, adding: “I kept coming back to the fact that I was driving reasonably. It is a tragic accident in my eyes.”

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided earlier this year not to prosecute the paramedic after a “thorough” investigation.

However, Mr Whittaker said yesterday that, had he not been bound by rules governing evidence already heard during inquests, he would have referred the case back to the CPS.

Recording a narrative verdict he said he would write to the YAS chief executive calling for it to work with other emergency services to improve driver training.

After the inquest, Mr Forsyth’s niece Catherine Wilson, of East Morton, said the family had been finding it difficult to accept her uncle’s death. She said: “It is a bitter pill to swallow because we still don’t believe that justice has been done.”