THE family of a man who died after an ambulance driver clocked off his shift in the middle of a 999 emergency have spoken of their anger at his treatment.

Father-of-four Ali Asghar died soon after arriving at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, on May 18.

The 69-year-old suffered a stroke and died of a suspected heart attack, despite doctors’ best efforts to save him.

It is alleged the driver had complained to his colleague that he was 15 minutes past the end of his shift and wanted to clock off.

He is believed to have diverted to the depot and left without telling his replacement there was a critically sick patient being cared for in the back of the ambulance.

Mr Asghar, of Chalk Close, Stockton, lived with wife Fremeda, 57.

The couple, of Pakistani origin, have four adult children.

Mrs Asghar wept when she heard the ambulance had been delayed. Her son, Mohammed Asghar, 33, was also unaware of the delay.

He said: “If that has happened it shouldn’t have.

What’s more important – your shift or a person who is dying?

“I used to be a bus driver and no matter if my shift was about to end I would carry on working. If your shift went over by a minute it didn’t matter.

“If you have a patient in an ambulance, you don’t worry about your bloody shift finishing.

“The driver should not get away with it. The time he took to detour could have saved my father’s life.”

Oldest son Mohabbot Asghar, 39, also from Stockton, went in the ambulance to the hospital with his father.

He said: “It’s a procedural matter for the ambulance service.

I am happy that they were working on my father all the way to the hospital.”

The ambulance driver, aged 53, and the technician, aged 54, who was tending the patient, have been suspended.

A spokesman for the North-East Ambulance Service said they had been in touch with the family to pass on their condolences and that a full investigation would be carried out.

Stockton North MP Frank Cook is urging the ambulance service to abandon its bid for Foundation status in light of the incident. If granted, the service would have greater freedom than under national control.