A FOOTBALLER is suing a health authority for negligence over treatment he claims he received after breaking his leg.

Rossendale United's Paul Lynch, 25, is taking legal action against Nottingham Health Authority following an accident.

The midfielder dislocated his ankle and broke his leg in the UniBond First Division clash at Eastwood Town 10 days ago. The former Blackburn Rovers trainee, of Stonehill Drive, Blackburn, said: "I was in absolute agony, it was a nightmare."

Paul, who has also played for Accrington Stanley, Great Harwood and Clitheroe and is a trainee podiatrist at Calderstones Hospital, added: "It was a nothing tackle, a freak accident.

"The worst thing is that I had my studs on right until kick-off, then I changed to rubbers. It had started raining so it was very slippery and if I had kept my studs on I would have been OK."

"I lay on the floor for what seemed like ages and the lads tried to touch my boots to take them off, but I just couldn't stand it. My ankle was at a different angle to my body. They couldn't look and I kept passing out.

"It took 50 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. The response time is meant to be eight minutes. There was no reason given.

"Then they got me into the ambulance and it broke down for 40 minutes, so it took 90 minutes to get me to hospital, the Queens Medical Centre, in Nottingham." Paul claims that when he was there his leg was manipulated three times to get the bone back into place.

He says he stayed in overnight in the hospital and had three shots of morphine.

Paul added: "The next day they said I would have to make my own way back to Blackburn. They couldn't authorise an ambulance.

"So my wife came and put me in the back of a car. It was torture. I had a panic attack and kept having to stop to be sick. It was like a bad joke.

"And I was given no medical cards to take with me so if we had been in a crash and they had given me another shot of morphine I could have overdosed."

Paul may not be able to work for a while and is out of football for about a year.

However, he has been moved by phone calls, letters and cards he has received from Rossendale United. "The manager Jim McCluskie hasn't stopped ringing and the chairman Andrew Connolly came to see me in hospital. I am not on contract, but they have also said they will pay my wages while I am out.

"It is so frustrating. I was hitting the best form of my life. Now I will just have to watch from the sidelines."

Nobody at Nottingham Health Authority, was available for comment.