HISTORY was made, five years ago this week, as the Nissan factory in Sunderland started production of the world’s first mass-market electric car, the Nissan Leaf.

Nissan's decision to choose Sunderland was seen as a major vote of confidence in its North-East workforce, being the first to manufacture the car outside of Japan.

The Japanese company invested £420m in plant and machinery to make up to 50,000 Leafs a year in the North-East. The leaf was its newest model boasting more interior space, faster charging time, more gadgets and the capability to travel further between charges.

Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president, said: "The Nissan Leaf is our most technically advanced car yet and the launch of this new model, built along with its batteries in Sunderland, is a huge boost not only for the plant but for British manufacturing."

Also that week, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to investigate ambulance response times in the North-East after delays left an 85-year-old woman lying on the floor for nearly five hours.

Florence McNeilly fell in the bathroom of her home in Darlington at 6pm but paramedics did not arrive until 10.45pm.

Mrs McNeilly’s daughter Sue, 58, said she was pleased to hear her mother's case had reached the highest levels of government.

She said: "Mum fell just after 6pm, straight on to her face. I called 999 and they deemed her to be a non-emergency – they said she would have to wait up to an hour for an ambulance. I kept calling and each time the call handlers just asked if she was still breathing and gave me some checks to do.”

When the issue was brought up in Parliament, Mr Cameron said: "I'm very happy to look to see what happened in this case and if there are lessons to be learned for the future."

Meanwhile, a teenage barman’s dreams were crushed when he thought he had won £1m only to be told he filled in the wrong betting form.

Jordan Donnellan, 19, from Consett, predicted the outcome of 14 football matches and believed his £1 accumulator had made him an overnight millionaire, even celebrating his success with friends at the pub.

The following morning, when he went to collect his winnings, staff initially congratulated Mr Donnellan.

He said: "The woman was looking at the scores and ticked them off. She looked up and smiled and said, 'I think you might have won, do you want a hug?'.

"She had to ring her area manager because they did not have that sort of cash."

But when he returned three hours later he was told he had filled in an accumulator that required both teams to have scored, while some of teams in his selections failed to do so – meaning he had won nothing.