A PUB landlord is raising concerns over “unacceptable” ambulance response times after a customer with a history of mini-strokes was left waiting for more than two hours.

Shane Kilcrann, owner of Old Hall Tavern, in Hall Lane, Chingford, is calling for more ambulance staff after enduring a two hour wait with an ill woman on Monday (September 19).

Mr Kilcrann feared the worse when the pub regular complained of a bad headache, and shortly after 7.30pm he dialled 999.

Despite informing the operator that the woman, in her 50s, had a history of mini-strokes, he had to call again just after 9pm.

Mr Kilcrann said the woman felt like her head was “going to burst” and was visibly getting worse as her wait for an ambulance entered its second hour.

Just before 9.30pm Mr Kilcrann called for the third time after the woman lost her balance and fell from a chair.

More than two hours later at 9.40pm an ambulance arrived at the pub and took her to a hospital.

The landlord, who has lived in the area for 24 years, criticised such dangerous understaffing of emergency services.

He said: “The whole system is wrong.

“I was concerned as she was in so much pain, I thought it might have been an aneurysm or a stroke.

“She was crying, it was quite sad to see.

“It’s not acceptable to have to wait over two hours for an ambulance."

Mr Kilcrann suggested he could have found an ambulance himself in the time it took for one to arrive.

He added: “What if something terrible had happened?

“This lady pays her taxes and works in this country, yet it took over two hours for an ambulance to come.”

A few months ago, Mr Kilcrann had to contend with a man he feared was trying to take his own life after he entered his pub with his arms slit open.

The landlord said he was bleeding everywhere and he phoned the emergency services straight away.

He added: “We had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes before the ambulance turned up.

“Anything could have happened to that guy, they said to keep an eye on him but he could have walked out the pub and into the road.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said its emergency services receive thousands of calls each night and can only attend the most life-threatening situations.