A "CATALOGUE of serious errors" by an ambulance service contributed to the death of a cyclist, an inquest has heard.

John Thompson, 69, fell off his bike whilst trying to avoid a cat in the road whilst cycling near the bottom of Reasty Bank Road in Harwood Dale, near Scarborough in June last year.

The father-of-two was taken to the Major Trauma Centre at Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital after suffering from serious chest and shoulder injuries, but he died later that day.

However, an inquest at Teesside Coroner's Court yesterday heard that Mr Thompson's "outcome" could have been different if it wasn't for the "failures in clinical care and decision making" and a "lack of situational awareness and team work".

A damning internal report into the incident by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service also found paramedics and doctors had failed to identify quick enough that he had entered cardiac arrest.

A post mortem examination found Mr Thompson had died from a traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage - a bleed around the brain, but there had been " no consideration" that he had a "head injury of significance", the inquest heard.

Dr Peter Goode, an independent witness who provided a report on the incident, said: "I appreciate it is a very difficult situation for the paramedics, but there was a lack of situational awareness.

"If he was alert, did anyone ask him about a head injury? He couldn't remember, the signs were there that he had a bang to the head."

His report also criticised the delay in getting Mr Thompson to a hospital and the monitoring of his respiratory system.

Asked if the "delay in effective medal treatment" had contributed to his decline, Dr Goode said "yes".

However, he added: "If things had been done better, the outcome was always likely to be very bleak - he would have had serious neurological difficulties.

Dr Christopher Srinivasan, who treated Mr Thompson in the air ambulance. said: "In any incident, we debrief and have lots of reflection - there is never an incident where it goes perfectly.

"Could we have done more? Yes. That is the same in any incident. Did this cause him harm? I don't think so."

Senior coroner Clare Bailey accepted the paramedics had worked in a "fast moving, dynamic situation" but said some aspects of the care "could have been better".

She recorded a verdict of accident, exacerbated by a delay in the provision of timely and appropriate medical intervention.