MEASURES to stop gypsies invading Hillfield Park prevented an ambulance getting to an injured pensioner whose finger was hanging off following a freak incident.
Doreen Slater was out dog walking with her grandson’s dog Livvy and friend Annetta Hwyl when an over-amorous dog approached Livvy.
In the efforts to separate the pair, 74-year-old Doreen’s fingers got stuck in Livvy’s collar – injuring two fingers and severing another while the dog itself almost choked to death.
An ambulance was immediately despatched to the scene to attend a very shaken-up and faint Doreen.
But when it got there it was unable to get in to the park because of the overhead barriers used to keep out unwanted gypsies.
“The ambulance couldn’t get in to the park – we were really worried,” said Anetta.
“Despite Doreen’s injuries being awful, thankfully they were not life-threatening, but what would have happened if there had been somebody in a life or death situation?”
A spokesperson for Solihull Council confirmed that the barriers preventing high vehicles from entering the park can be opened and that arrangements had now been made with West Midlands Ambulance Service for this.
They added: “We were sorry to hear about this distressing incident and wish our dog-walking park-user a swift recovery.
“Height Barriers have had to be installed at the entrances to a number of borough parks in order to deter travellers and other inappropriate users of our park car parks.
“We have made the Ambulance Service aware of the parks where height barriers are installed and have agreed a means of removing them if access is required.”
Doreen was taken to Heartlands hospital then the Queen Elizabeth where she was treated for trauma and had to have surgery to sew one of her fingers back on.
She is now recovering well, albeit shocked and shaken.
