Bill Tennet from Eastleigh had to wait almost four hours for an ambulance afer falling at his home

Bill Tennet, who served his country in the Second World War and travelled the world as a captain in the Merchant Navy, was in pain and unable to move after falling and hitting his head at his Hampshire home.

His wife, also aged 90, could only sit helplessly beside him until paramedics arrived - missing their target arrival time by two hours and 50 minutes.

Last night ambulance bosses apologised to the couple and launched an investigation into the delay.

Bill's wife Dorothy discovered him face down on the floor in the hallway after hearing "an almighty thud."

But the length of time it took for her husband of 67 years to get the help he needed has terrified Dorothy, 90, who had to repeatedly call 999 to check what was happening.

Arctic Convoy veteran Bill was conscious but in pain, with a large bleeding bump on his head, a cut below his eye, another cut on the bridge of his nose as well as a painful shoulder.

Dorothy was too weak to move her husband who has had three heart attacks, numerous falls and three serious operations in the past 15 years.

She said: "They kept apologising on the phone but they wouldn't say how far away they were and just told me it wasn't an emergency, I was very concerned. He fell with a mighty thud to the ground and I ran to him, he was conscious but I didn't know what had happened and I couldn't see his injuries.

"I called our neighbours to see if they could help but when Bill started complaining about his shoulder we were too afraid to move him and I decided to call an ambulance."

Dorothy called for the ambulance at 9.37am yesterday but paramedics didn't reach the scene until 1.27pm - three hours and 50 minutes later. The target response time for non life threatening call-out is one hour.

The grandmother-of-three added: "It's such a long time to wait and worry and it shouldn't be happening to people, he could have seriously declined in that time. They kept telling me on the phone that it was because he wasn't an emergency patient but the sitting there not being able to do anything is unbearable.

"Thankfully Bill is going to be all right, he has some nasty bruises but he didn't have to go to hospital and the paramedics once they got here were brilliant with him. I don't blame them for what happened at all.

"I think this shows how the NHS could be suffering with a lack of money or perhaps money being spent in the wrong places. I really feel something needs to be done to fix this for the benefit of everyone."

Bill and Dorothy met as schoolchildren when they grew up in South Shields and married after the war, where Bill had served in Russia.

The couple had three children and travelled across the globe, even living near New York for two years, with Bill's work as a captain for various vessels and foot passengers ships, before moving to Eastleigh in the sixties.

Dorothy said: "We are lucky he is alright. Our daughter-in-law who is a nurse came to check on him as the ambulance took so long and my son couldn't get away from work, but there was only so much we could do alone without really knowing what was wrong and I appreciate there are very serious incidents that require attention but more than three hours is too long to wait, it's a real concern."

The couple's son, Adrian, 60 from Fair Oak, said: "I was very concerned, obviously waiting for nearly four hours isn't good and the problems is that the ambulance service is too busy, they didn't put the incident down as a priority. Luckily my wife who is a nurse was able to see him but it wall getting more worrying as time went on."

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) confirmed an investigation had been launched into the delay.

She added: "We would like to apologise to the patient and their family for the delay in an ambulance arriving on scene.

"We are sorry that on this occasion the timely service that we aim to achieve was not of the standard we set ourselves and strive to deliver for every patient.

"We would invite the patient and their family to formally contact our patient experience team so that we can address any concerns or feedback that they have.

"We take our response to our patients very seriously and we are in the process of reviewing the call and are therefore not able to comment further at this time."

Last year the Chronicle reported that by the end of 2016 South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) could face a £1million fine because of poor performance.

Sue Byrne, SCAS chief operating officer, revealed in November that the service has been given a penalty notice for not meeting the eight-minute response target for life-threatening emergencies.

A lack of staff was highlighted as a concern and later this month SCAS had planned a recruitment drive in Otterbourne.