AN aspiring politician died after suffering serious back injuries when he slipped on ice on his way to buy a condolence card for a friend, an inquest heard.

Phillip Tickle was left lying on an icy pavement in Farnworth for 57 minutes due to ambulance crews facing "unprecedented" demand.

The 40-year-old's death at Salford Royal Hospital nine days after the fall on December 28 last year prompted hospital bosses and the North West Ambulance Service to carry out internal reviews — with representatives of both admitting that mistakes had been made.

Half an hour after the ambulance was called, a 999 call handler rang Mr Tickle's neighbour, who had heard the fall and raised the alarm, to tell her that the ambulance would be delayed.

But the court heard an error had been made when the person did not check with the neighbour to see if Mr Tickle's condition had changed since the alarm was raised.

Coroner Alan Walsh said: "December 28 was a highly exceptional day with high demand and I accept that the ambulance service have protocols for dealing with calls. But when the ambulance did not arrive within 30 minutes there should have been a review because there would probably have been increased priority after he had been lying on the floor and developed hypothermia."

The inquest heard how Mr Tickle had been braving the bad weather and walking to a local shop to buy a condolence card when he fell.

He had drawn up plans to launch a political party, started to deteriorate at about 4am on January 6 but did not see a doctor for three hours.

The ward doctor was busy but nursing staff did not refer the case to the site manager or on-call consultant, which protocol dictated they should.

Mr Walsh added: "It is accepted by the hospital that from four to seven there was a deterioration that should have led to a a doctor being called."

Bolton Coroner's Court was told that these factors did not contribute to his death, as he recovered from the wait in the cold, and when he was eventually seen by a doctor at 7am on the day of his death, he was diagnosed with a chest infection rather than aspiration.

Mr Tickle had suffered a burst vertebrae in the fall close to his home in Farnworth, which he shared with mum Linda and father Thomas.

Fragments of bone had damaged the spinal cord, causing him to lose feeling in his legs.

Later he underwent spinal surgery which was successful, but aspiration is a common complication of spinal damage.

The court was told how this was not the first tragedy to affect Mr Tickle.

As a 10-year-old he suffered serious head injuries after in a minibus crash involving the Farnworth under-12s side, which killed three of his teammates.

Last year Mr Tickle outlined his vision for The People's Party, which would help those jobless into work.

The coroner returned a narrative verdict that Mr Tickle died as a consequence of a recognised complication of aspiration secondary to vomiting following injuries sustained in an accidental fall.