THE grandmother of three children who died in a house fire has said the ambulance response was "disgusting".

The Mail has established three ambulances sent to the house where Samantha Hudson and her children were trapped took more than 30 minutes to arrive.

William, 9, AJ, 5, and Maddie, 3, all died following the blaze at their home in Clarence Avenue, Bridlington, on November 11 last year.

Miss Hudson, 27, remains in hospital, but her family hope she will soon be transferred to a unit at Goole And District Hospital, which cares for patients with brain damage.

Her mother Sharon Hudson, of nearby Richmond Street, told the Mail: "If the ambulances got there sooner, it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but the response that night was pretty rubbish.

"The ambulance service is so stretched in this town and it is terrible. They couldn't do anything for my grandchildren, but you have to stop and think about other people. It is disgusting."

Only one ambulance was initially sent to the scene and arrived five minutes after the 999 call at 11.53pm.

On arrival, the crew requested three more ambulances. The first did not arrive for a further 26 minutes, with the next two arriving at 12.37am and 12.39am – 44 and 46 minutes after the first emergency call.

The times were confirmed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service following a Mail request under the Freedom Of Information Act.

The service has not revealed where the ambulances were sent from.

A spokesperson for the ambulance service said: "We have previously taken steps to contact the family via the police family liaison officer and we are still keen to speak to them directly about their concerns.

"We would again like to reassure members of the public that in this case, and as with any incident, we dispatched the nearest available ambulance crews to the scene.

"Following the emergency call to the house fire last November, we deployed the nearest available ambulance which arrived within five minutes."