Ambulance workers have criticised regulations that enforced the last few minutes of a meal break – while colleagues were desperately fighting to save a nine-year-old girl injured in a car accident.

The Daily Mail reports that Bethany Dibbs from Poole in Dorset was crossing a road on her scooter when she was struck by a car.

She sustained a fractured skull in the accident and fell into a coma.

An ambulance crew attending radioed their operator for back up from another crew, only to be told that the nearest crew available had a few minutes left of their lunch break – and the other nearest crew available was 20 minutes away.

Strict regulations governing the breaks of ambulance crews mean they have to have two 30-minute meal breaks during a shift, which cannot be interrupted.

The situation was resolved when one of the crew attending Bethany called a colleague directly, who willingly interrupted his break to attend the accident. Additional back up arrived five minutes after the original crew to take Bethany to hospital.

An ambulance worker who first attended the child – who does not wish to be named – called the meal break policy ‘a joke’.

'There isn't one staff member who would not go, but we have to be given two 30-minute meal breaks and can't be interrupted,’ he said.

Bethany’s father Stephen Dibbs said that, although he could not ‘fault’ the paramedics who attended his daughter, the system was to blame.

'The world really has gone mad. My little girl was lying unconscious in the road and they are quoting statutory health and safety regulations? Every second counts in that situation.

'Bethany is recovering but she's still got a long way to go,’ Mr Dibbs added. ‘We're waiting to find out whether she has any long-term brain damage.'

South Western Ambulance Service Trust said that it took health and safety duties ‘seriously’. A spokesman said:

'In line with national guidelines which must be adhered to by all ambulance trusts, it is important all staff have dedicated 30-minute rest breaks which cannot be interrupted.’

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