Wife thought husband had died after ambulance mix-up

Ambulance bosses apologised today to the wife of a pensioner after a mix-up led her to believe he was dead.

John Prescott, 76, who not only shares his name with the Deputy Prime Minister but also lives in Hull, collapsed at his home in Mirfield Grove.

His wife, Jean, 78, started arranging his funeral after hearing a paramedic say that her husband had died.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said they had investigated the incident and apologised for Mrs Prescott's distress, but denied that the paramedic had ever said Mr Prescott was dead.

A spokeswoman said: "We apologise for the distress caused.

"For some reason she got the idea that the paramedic said her husband was dead, but the paramedic says he didn't actually say that."

The paramedic was interviewed twice about the incident and repeatedly denied that he had made the comment, the spokeswoman said.

Mrs Prescott called 999 after her husband slipped into what was believed to be a diabetic coma at 8.30am.

Thinking her husband was dead, she started arranging his funeral, but at 4.30pm she was phoned by Hull Royal Infirmary to be told that Mr Prescott was being treated there.

She wrote a formal letter of complaint to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Mrs Prescott today declined to comment about the incident, which happened in August, but earlier she told The Sun newspaper: "I couldn't believe it. I heard the paramedic say he was dead.

"I phoned the undertakers to start arranging the funeral. Then I had a phone call to say he wasn't dead after all. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through something like this."