Power Cut Delays Possibly Contributed to Man's Death

0:00On March 20th, a corner has ruled that ambulance delays during a power cut possibly contributed to the death of 62-year-old Peter Coates back. On March 14th, 2019, Coates, from Redcar, relied on a mains-powered breathing machine for his chronic lung condition. When the outage hit in the early hours, the machine failed and he called for help right away. The northeast ambulance service dispatched a crew from a nearby station, but the same power cut jammed the electric gates, trapping them inside. A second ambulance from farther away stopped to refuel, even with fuel to spare, adding more time. Paramedics finally entered Coates' home 47 minutes after his 9-9-9 call, but he had already passed away. Coates' family spent years pushing for answers amid delays and pushback from the service. They only uncovered the full story through a whistleblower's information shared with the newspaper three years later. The call was treated as Category 2 priority, targeting most responses within 40 minutes.

1:00In a recent inquest, coroner Paul Appleton delivered a narrative conclusion highlighting those delays. The service has since trained staff on manual gate overrides and updated other procedures to prevent repeats. The family welcomes this closure after so much struggle, while the ambulance service has apologized and committed to better emergency responses moving. Forward.