A MAN whose seriously ill wife endured a three-hour journey to hospital after the ambulance crashed in the snow today said ungritted roads could have caused a tragedy.

Maureen Williams was on her way to Blackburn Royal Infirmary suffering from suspected meningitis on Thursday afternoon when the ambulance slid into a ditch on an icy road just yards from her home, in Paythorne near Clitheroe.

Police said Mrs Williams was kept in the ambulance for more than an hour before being rescued by local farmers and the Mountain Search and Rescue Team and taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

Her condition was said to be stable and although serious she is not suffering from meningitis. Doctors are trying to establish what has caused her illness.

Mrs Williams' husband Dave today said the icy road which caused the ambulance to become stuck could have cost his wife her life.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said gritters had concentrated on major roads at the start of the bad weather and had reached many minor roads within 48 hours.

Mr Williams said: "If it had been meningitis then three hours to get to the hospital could have been fatal. It was a medical emergency and my wife was extremely ill. This is our first winter here but neighbours have told us that the road is bad every year. Whether the delay would have actually been critical to my wife is hard to say but there is definitely an issue here."

Mr Williams described his wife's as having "meningitis-like symptoms" and said he called a doctor to their home near to the Twingill Caravan Park, in Paythorne. The doctor could not get down the narrow Neps Lane which leads to the village from the main A682 and was forced to abandon his car and walk about a mile to the house.

An ambulance was sent from Barnoldswick but got stuck on the way to the hospital. Emergency crews were sent to help including a back up ambulance from Clitheroe and members of Rossendale Search and Rescue Team.

Mrs Williams was transferred to the other ambulance and taken to Blackburn Infirmary.