The Welsh Ambulance Service has rejected claims on social media that it was slow to reach the Coity Road crash in Bridgend in which Eleanor Barnfield was fatally injured. Rumours of a delayed response are “factually untrue”, it said on Thursday.
The service said it was called at about 12.44pm on Monday 19 October to reports of a road traffic collision on Coity Road in Bridgend. A Cymru High Acuity Response Unit, one of its rapid response cars, arrived seven minutes later at 12.51pm.
Two emergency ambulances followed at 1.07pm and 1.13pm “to provide additional support”, it said.
Advanced critical care was given by the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service, the NHS medics who fly with the Wales Air Ambulance charity, who arrived by helicopter. The patient was taken to hospital by road, the service said.
Its statement said: “We are aware that contradictory and misleading rumours regarding a delayed ambulance response have been circulating on social media.”
It added: “These are factually untrue and we would encourage members of the public not to speculate.”
Seven minutes to the scene: how the Coity Road timeline fits together
The ambulance service’s account matches the air ambulance charity’s. It told Swansea Bay News on Tuesday that its Dafen-based crew was allocated at 1.07pm, arrived at 1.32pm and stood down at 3pm.
South Wales Police has said officers were called at around 12.43pm after a report that a car had hit a wall, and found the driver had “puncture wounds unrelated to the collision”. She was taken to hospital, where she later died.
On Wednesday the force named her as Eleanor Barnfield, 47, from Bridgend, who worked for the housing association Valleys to Coast. Her family said she “was our rock”.
A 61-year-old man from Bridgend was in custody on suspicion of murder on Wednesday, following a policing operation at Ger-y-Nant that ran through Monday night, the force said.
Chief Superintendent Jason Rees said: “Our thoughts remain firmly with Eleanor’s family. I want to assure the community that teams of detectives and specialist staff are investigating.”
Police have also asked people not to “speculate online about the circumstances”. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has relevant information is asked to contact the force through its online reporting portal, quoting reference 2600342470.
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