A MONMOUTH man says he had to make his own way to hospital after cutting a main artery and losing two pints of blood.

He ended up having 500 stitches during a four and a half hour operation to repair it.

Alan Cox, 46, of Woodland View, Wyesham, was locking up Monmouth’s Royal British Legion branch at about 10.45pm last Friday evening, when he tripped on his shoe lace and fell through the glass door pane, severing an artery.

Mr Cox, who runs building firm Valley Construction, said: “Fortunately there were other people there or I would’ve died without a doubt. I lost about two pints of blood and was losing consciousness.

“One of the guys, a retired paramedic, saw how serious it was and put a tourniquet on my arm and another two men held it.’ An ambulance was called, but when police arrived they said one was not available.

Mr Cox said the officers told him they could not take him to the hospital as they were the only officers on duty and the car would have to be cleaned afterwards.

He said: “In the end, my father rang my son to take me to hospital. The police never even offered an escort. At the end of the day, it was too much hassle for them.’

Mr Cox was taken to Nevil Hall hospital in Abergavenny before being transferred via ambulance to Swansea, where he had 500 internal stitches during a four-and-a-half-hour operation.’

A Gwent police spokeswoman said: “The preference is for people to be taken to hospital in an ambulance with trained medical staff. In an emergency, and on numerous occasions, Gwent Police have found themselves in the position of transporting people to hospital, and will do so in the future, but this is not our primary function.’ She added that the local inspector will be contacting Mr Cox to discuss his concerns.

A Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust spokesman said they could not comment on individual patients.