Ambulance stalled by attack

Ambulance Service called for such incidents to stop immediately

An ambulance has been attacked as it transported an emergency cardiac patient to hospital in Londonderry.

The vehicle was forced to stop on the Madams Bank Road, on the city side of Derry on Saturday night, after a youth threw a child's scooter in front of it.

The police ferried the patient and paramedic to hospital. No-one was injured in the incident.

Councillor Annie Courtney said she was shocked by the attack.

"As a former health service worker, I think its an absolute disgrace," she said.

"People here in Derry are well used to seeing emergency ambulances and they know the work that they do.

"They know tomorrow it could be their own mother, it could even be themselves that will be in an ambulance.

"I would tell them to really think again about what they're doing."

There have been a series of attacks on the emergency services in the Belfast area recently.

Last month, an ambulance driver escaped injury after a brick was thrown through a window of his vehicle in the south of the city.

In March, paramedics were attacked on two consecutive nights nights while attending disturbances in north Belfast.

Ambulance personnel have appealed for the attacks to stop.