A TEENAGER was left in a car wreck for almost an hour after a Notts emergency call operator forgot to alert fire crews, an inquest heard.
Justin Luckins, 17, was trapped in his Vauxhall Corsa for 49 minutes before firefighters arrived.
An East Midlands Ambulance Service worker admitted she did not alert police and fire services as her 12-hour shift was about to end.
In a statement read to the coroner, dispatcher Rita Rooney, who is based at the EMAS control centre in Nottingham, said: "I did not, on this occasion, inform police.
"The only reason I can give is this was the end of my shift."
Justin's car had crashed near Kettering, Northamptonshire. It rolled over and hit a tree on August 15, 2009.
The initial emergency call had been received by the East of England Ambulance Service in Norwich because of the location of the nearest mobile phone mast. They passed the call to EMAS, which covers Northamptonshire.
The inquest in Kettering heard Ms Rooney did not check the code supplied by the first call centre which indicated two people were trapped and the other emergency services would be needed.
A crew from the East of England Ambulance Service were first on the scene and radioed the police and fire service.
It meant the fire crew needed to free Justin, who was from Corby, and front-seat passenger Nathan Smith, did not arrive until 49 minutes after the first 999 call.
The inquest heard the ambulance service admitted they would have had a better chance of helping him if he had been rescued more quickly.
Justin died in hospital two days later from a head injury.
A pathologist said he did not think the delay contributed to the teenager's death.
Justin's father, Roy Luckins, said Ms Rooney's explanation was "disgusting."
He said: "I was at the scene 25 minutes waiting for the fire service to come.
"Myself and my wife came all the way from Corby. We were there before the police and fire brigade.
"It was the end of the shift? With all the technology available nowadays that's the poorest excuse I've ever heard in my life."
A spokesman for EMAS said a full internal investigation had been carried out and the member of staff responsible no longer worked in the control centre.
"We deeply regret that, on this occasion, we did not follow our standard practice of alerting fire and rescue and police to a 999 call of this type.
"We take a thousand 999 calls every 24 hours and this is the only incident of this type we have experienced.
"We have put measures in place to reduce the risk of this happening again."
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