Ambulance firm denies response to football fan who collapsed was 'shambles'

THE director of a private ambulance service has rejected claims that its response after a football fan collapsed with a cardiac arrest during a Championship match was “chaotic” and a “shambles”.

- DAVE HIGGENS News Reporter

Mark Townsend, 57, died after he collapsed among the West Bromwich Albion supporters at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium on September 28, 2024, an inquest has heard.

GP and West Brom fan Richard Stones told Sheffield Coroners’ Court on Monday how he was the first to give Mr Townsend CPR in the Leppings Lane stand.

He told the hearing the care received by Mr Townsend at the ground was among the worst he had seen and a “shambles”.

But Lewis Wright, the owner and director of Lambda Medical, which has the contract to provide medical services for Sheffield Wednesday matches, told a coroner it was “almost textbook in how it was run in a very hostile and difficult environment”.

Dr Stones described how he and off-duty paramedic Chelsea Jones took turns to do chest compressions on Mr Townsend, telling the court: “We are doing CPR. We are screaming out to get some help and nothing came.”

He said he asked for a defibrillator, but “literally, the stewards were just looking at me.” Dr Stones said that when paramedics arrived they had a defibrillator but no oxygen.