WHEN young Sam Conway broke his leg during a football match, his mates ran across the road to the obvious place to get help.

But they were shocked to find that the ambulance station - a stone's throw away from the pitch where Sam was lying in agony - had no ambulance and they were turned away.

They were left even more amazed when it took a further 90 minutes for an ambulance to arrive - and that had to come from Winchester 16 miles away.

Sam, 17, was playing for AFC Totton reserves at Testwood Park when he went in for a tackle.

The apprentice mechanic and former Testwood schoolboy broke his tibia and fibula, two bones in his shin, midway through the first half of the Southampton Senior Cup tie against Nursling.

A community responder arrived after ten minutes and gave Sam oxygen, but the game was delayed by 90 minutes as Sam laid on the grass, unable to move, waiting for an ambulance.

Pete Glasspool, AFC Totton reserve team manager, told the Daily Echo: "We expected the ambulance to arrive a lot quicker. The ambulance station is a two-minute walk away from the football ground - you could throw a stone there.

"One of the guys from the club went to the station but they couldn't help. It was a joke."

Pete added: "We could not move him. He is only a young lad and he didn't know what the hell was happening to him. He was getting very cold and was obviously in a lot of pain."

Ninety minutes after the accident happened an ambulance arrived and took Sam to Southampton General Hospital.

Two ambulances were diverted to heart attack patients and a third - from Winchester - got to Sam at 4.20pm.

He had an operation to insert pins and plates into his leg on Sunday and returned to the family home in Huntingdon Close, Totton, with his step-dad Mick Conway and mum Beverley Reynolds on Wednesday.

Beverley said: "I have mixed feelings - half of me thinks it's disgusting he had to wait that long for an ambulance, but they have to prioritise and heart attacks are life threatening. But, when it's your son lying there in the cold and wet, it seemed like a very long time."

Michelle Ullett, South Central Ambulance Service spokesman, said: "Due to the information given, the call was classified as category C, which we intend to respond to within an hour.

"We position ambulances strategically at points across the county so we can best respond to incidents. On Saturday, we experienced a high number of calls.

"Because there is an ambulance station round the corner does not necessarily mean an ambulance is there. The ambulance that responds will not necessarily come from the nearest station because they don't sit there waiting for a call to come in."