THE family of a little boy say he was lucky not to lose his finger in a freak accident.

Alfie White had been playing with a bicycle when as he spun the pedals he managed to get his finger caught up in the chain.

But it was firefighters rather than paramedics that gave the four-year-old first aid and even ended up taking the four-year-old to hospital as no ambulance was available.

Mum Sammy McEneany found her screaming son with his finger trapped in the upside down bike at the family home in Winchester.

The mother-of-four dialled 999 and firefighters arrived within minutes, releasing Alfie by cutting the chain with bolt croppers.

"I thought he was going to lose his finger because all the blood wasn't getting to the end of his finger," she said.

"He was standing there and there was nothing I could do."

But after alerting the ambulance service to the severity of the situation Winchester watch manager Chris Roper said they were informed there were no crews available.

The crew instructed Sammy's eldest son Jake to get ice then they took Alfie to the nearby Royal Hampshire County Hospital on a firefighter's knee and carried the youngster into the accident and emergency department.

Luckily Alfie, who will start at Westgate Primary School next month, has not suffered any lasting damage apart from a nasty scar on his left index finger.

But the family said it was worrying that the ambulance had not been able to attend the incident at 12.30pm on Saturday could have cost Alfie his finger especially when another son Joseph, 2, has suffered from asthma attacks that required an ambulance in the past.

Sammy, 32, of Devenish Road, added: "I'm disappointed that they didn't come. There should have been more ambulances."

Alfie's father, Adrian, 39, said: Father Adrian said they respected that ambulance services had to prioritise but said you would expect a child to be seen quicker especially as the injury appeared serious and in such cases with potential loss of a finger time is of the essence.

"I know you hear talk of multi services all coming together "You don't expect the firemen to do the ambulance's job,"

Fire Service Watch manager Chris Roper said of the situation: "It's not ideal – but that's the way things are going at the moment – our medical interventions are on the increase due to the pressure on the ambulances."

South Central Ambulance Service said it had arrived on scene 12 minutes after the initial call and that this type of call would be deemed non-life threatening but requiring an emergency response with the target arrival set at 30 minutes.

But she said they were reviewing the circumstances surrounding the call and apologised to the family that they had had to get to hospital by other means.

A spokeswoman said: "Like all emergency services we do have a finite amount of resources we are able to allocate. SCAS takes our response to patients very seriously and we strive to get to them as quickly as we can."