I AM appalled that you reported as your banner headline the six hour wait for a boy who suffered a knee injury at school (Echo, Dec 17), not because of the reported ambulance response time but the perceived need for an ambulance to take a child with a knee injury to A&E.

Ambulances should never be called for people with minor injuries when there are alternatives such as cars and taxis.

I am also concerned that common sense did not prevail and that teachers, who are in “loco parentis”, did not act in a sensible way and arrange transport for this child.

We are never going to have an efficient and affordable NHS if the public continue to abuse the services for minor conditions, most of which are self limiting.

Dr DWL Smith, Newby Wiske, Northallerton

WHILE there was not full detail given, I read with increasing incredulity The Northern Echo’s lead about a schoolboy’s six hour wait for an ambulance.

Not that the over-stretched ambulance service’s response time was a serious problem, but the fact that as that boy’s injuries were not considered to be a priority, why did no one have the common sense, and with the parent’s permission, to put the boy in a car and drive him to a hospital?

Have we come to the stage in this country that no one dares take responsibility without fear of being sued?

GN Bull, Darlington