AN eye-witness has spoken of the horrifying moment she saw a 78-year-old woman hit by a scooter — and expressed anger at the amount of time it took for an ambulance to arrive.

Deborah Lowe was just metres away from the pensioner as she was struck by the vehicle in Crown Lane last Thursday evening.

Mrs Lowe, aged 47, of Montserrat Road in Bolton, had been shopping with her daughter-in-law Hayley Blackburn, who lives in Crown Lane.

They had parked up in the road and as she got out of the car Mrs Lowe saw the elderly woman about to cross the road.

She said: “Suddenly I heard a loud scream and I turned and saw the scooter hitting the lady — her bag went flying into the air and she also came off the ground — it was so horrible.”

Last week we reported that following the accident — which caused the pensioner to suffer serious injuries to her head, shoulder and ankle — an ambulance did not arrive to take her to hospital for 79 minutes.

Mrs Lowe said local people — including an off-duty doctor and her daughter-in-law — tended to the injured woman during the long wait.

She said: “We were all wondering what was going on, it was cold and raining and we couldn’t believe it was taking so long.

"We just kept saying, where is the ambulance?

“The lady was unconscious at first and the doctor who lived nearby and had just finished his shift was amazing at looking after her — if he hadn’t been there I don’t know what might have happened to her.”

She said she has struggled to sleep since witnessing the distressing incident and is wishing the elderly lady a speedy recovery.

She added: “It really was a horrible situation and I have never witnessed anything like it, I just hope she is okay.”

Since the incident, local councillor Stephen Pickup has demanded answers from the North West Ambulance Service as to why the vehicle took so long to arrive at the scene.

The trust has apologised for the delay and cited a 5.7 per cent increase in calls on bonfire night as one reason for the hold up.

A spokesman said: “We are very sorry the patient had to wait this length of time for an ambulance and hope that she is recovering well after this incident.”