[Scarlett.]

A MAN who died after being knocked down by an ambulance has been named as Neal Paul Garner, 49 of Bracewell Street, Barnoldswick.

Police said it was believed Mr Garner had stepped out in front of the vehicle while talking on a mobile phone.

The ambulance, which had its emergency lights on, was on a training exercise.

The crash happened in Kelbrook Road, near West Craven Technology College, Barnoldswick, at 12.40pm yesterday.

Mr Garner was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital with serious injuries where was pronounced dead.

A North West Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed that an ambulance had been involved in the crash.

He said: "The incident is now being investigated by Lancashire Police and therefore no further information or comment will be made available by the trust."

The spokesman did however confirm that a second ambulance was called in to transport the man to hospital.

An initial call had been made for an air ambulance, and the Yorkshire craft was placed on standby, but the service was not required.

The accident took place on the main road out of Barnoldswick, towards Salterforth.

The road is boarded by hedges and plants on one side, with no pavement.

Houses are set back from the road on the opposite side.

There is a traffic island 200 metres from the scene.

One resident, who declined to be named, said: "I heard the ambulance noise from inside my house and then there was a thud.

"I thought something had happened but only went out a little bit later.

"By that time the police were at the scene and the man was lying motionless in the road.

"Very few people cross to the other side because there is no pavement there."

Charlene Simpson, from Earby, was travelling on a bus with her husband and daughter, and witnessed the aftermath.

She said: "They had the man on the floor waiting for the police to turn up and I was bothered because I thought it might be my son who goes out quite a lot along that road."

Carer Elaine Hudson, from West Yorkshire, who was working in a house near the scene of the accident, said she saw a broken mobile phone in the road.

She said: "I went down after it had happened.

"I saw the ambulance and the police cars but by the time I got there he had already been taken away.

"It is an awful road but there's no need for a crossing."

Coun Marjorie Adams, Coates ward councillor, said: "I was surprised when I heard where this had happened because we get more accidents on the road from Kelbrook to the Stone Trough.

"We asked the county council for a crossing for the schoolchildren a few years ago but they said that there had not been any accidents there."

A Lancashire police spokesman said: "We received a call to a road traffic collision in Kelbrook Road, Barnoldswick at 12.42pm.

"It appears that the man was on his mobile telephone and has stepped out in front of the ambulance.

"The ambulance was on a training exercise and had its blue lights illuminated at the time.

"The man was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital and has since died."


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