Businessman Gerald Ratner has criticised London’s ambulance service after his daughter was left in agony for two hours when she was impaled in a bike crash.

Sarah Ratner had to wait two hours for help when she was impaled by the handlebars of her own bicycle in central London, following a collision with another cyclist.

The aspiring actress came off her bike near the Houses of Parliament and required a three-hour operation to relieve the broken handlebars from her leg and groin.

At the time of the incident an ambulance was called but was not sent to her for nearly an hour - and when it was on its way, it was diverted elsewhere, leaving the 25-year-old bleeding in the street.

Mr Ratner, who used to run the Ratners jewellery empire , said the ambulance service response was “Third World”.

He said: “Somebody is going to lose their life if things carry on like this. The ambulance not coming was like something out of the Third World.

“I am very angry. The emergency services call themselves an emergency service, but didn't act like one. The incident didn't happen in the middle of nowhere - it was in the most central area.”

His daughter was cycling to a rehearsal for her new play, Leonce and Lena, which opens tonight at the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley, south-east London.

Mr Ratner's wife Moira had to drive an hour and a half from the family home in Maidenhead, Berkshire to take Miss Ratner to St Thomas' Hospital.

Mr Ratner said: “She was overtaking another cyclist, but at the same time there was another rider overtaking her, meaning she went over the handlebars.

“Luckily, she was wearing a helmet but then the handlebars broke and that somehow got impaled in her leg, specifically her groin.

“Fortunately, it missed all her main arteries but she still has a massive mark - it was very close. Part of the handlebars split and impaled her leg down to the bone.

“She was lying in the road, but luckily someone came past and called an ambulance.

“The police were there because it was right by the Houses of Parliament. They were very good and comforted her, but she lay there in pain bleeding for two hours and an ambulance didn't come.

“They said it was not top priority and this was not a major category, but her injury was very serious in my opinion - she was in a load of pain.”

He added: “She has a massive gash and scar but the surgeon could not believe how lucky she was, it was such a deep incision.”

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 5.57pm on Monday August 10 to Millbank to reports of a woman who had come off her bike.

“From the information provided to us by the caller, the patient was conscious, breathing and alert. We dispatched an ambulance crew at 6.51pm, but they were diverted to a higher priority call.

“We are very sorry for this delay and any distress it may have caused.”