A young man who collapsed and began fitting needed to be taken to hospital in a police car after ambulance crews reportedly took more than an hour-and-a-half to reach him.

The man, thought to be in his 20s or 30s, was walking along Taff Street in Pontypridd when he collapsed outside the ‘Max 99p’ store at around 11.30am on November 7.

A bystander who was concerned for the man’s wellbeing dialled 999 and asked for ambulance crews to reach the scene as soon as they could.

But when paramedics reportedly took more than 90 minutes to get to him, he was taken to hospital in a police car by officers.

'Chaos' in the town centre

A taxi driver who had parked his car on the rank on Taff Street said the traffic in Pontypridd town centre was “chaos” after the incident took place.

He said: “I think it’s disgusting that after an hour-and-a-half an ambulance had still not turned up to take the guy to hospital.

“The bloke was fitting on the floor and he looked absolutely dreadful.

“I appreciate there may have been more serious incidents, but for a police car to take him to hospital is ridiculous.”

A man who collapsed on Taff Street, Pontypridd, was taken to hospital in a police car

The distressed patient, who eventually came around after fitting for several minutes, was reportedly propped up against a wall and given a blanket donated from a local charity shop to keep him warm.

A spokesman from South Wales Police, who confirmed the patient was taken to hospital in one of their vehicles, said: “Police officers will assist our ambulance colleagues when someone’s life is at risk and urgent medical attention is required.

“Our priority aim is to protect life and property, which we do in partnership with the other emergency services.

“Our officers are also trained in first aid and regularly provide medical assistance at the scene of an incident.

“We work together on a joint emergency services group (JESG) to ensure a joined up 999 service to our communities. This is regularly reviewed to further improve performance.”

It was not classed as a 'Red' call

The Welsh Ambulance Service said the call had not been deemed life-threatening and therefore did not need to be reached within the Welsh Government’s eight minute target time.

A spokesman for the service said a community first responder, a volunteer who is trained to deal with a wide range of potentially life threatening conditions, was at the scene within 30 minutes.

A man who collapsed on Taff Street, Pontypridd, was taken to hospital in a police car

Judith White, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s head of operations for the Cwm Taf University Health Board area, said: “We work closely with our colleagues at South Wales Police to ensure that appropriate resources are sent to patients, including by placing clinicians within control rooms to triage calls.

“Although we do not request or expect officers to take patients to hospital, there are some occasions when they might take this decision independently, for example when a patient has a non-life-threatening illness or injury and all of our available ambulances are committed to higher priority calls in the community or are transferring patients at emergency departments.

“At present we have not been contacted by this patient, but we would encourage them to get in touch with us directly if they would like to go over any of the details. In the meantime we hope they make a good recovery.”