Henry Connell, from High Wycombe, was taken to Stoke Mandeville despite being hit by car at Wycombe Hospital entrance

Doctors feared they would need to amputate 80-year-old Henry Connell’s foot after he was mowed down by a car when the driver lost control, mounted the kerb and struck him, two other cars and a wall in October 2013.

Two-and-a-half-years later and the former church deacon, who lives in Spearing Road, still cannot walk properly, with his family labelling the ambulance transfer farce as “terrible”.

The “life-changing” accident was caused after the driver, a man in his 80s, mistook the accelerator for the brake outside Wycombe Hospital, on Queen Alexandra Road.

The remorseful driver has since surrendered his driving licence, while his passenger had to be cut free from the vehicle after also suffering serious injuries.

Pictures from the scene outside Wycombe Hospital.

Speaking to the Bucks Free Press, Mr Connell said: “I was waiting at the entrance for my daughter to bring the car from the car park, when this other car came rushing at me.

“I don’t remember much of it, but I thought that I would be taken back inside the hospital and they would look after me there.

“I blacked out and when I woke up I was in Stoke Mandeville Hospital. I couldn’t understand why.”

Mr Connell’s wife, Linda, added: “It’s terrible to think you can have a really serious accident right outside the hospital and still have to be taken to Stoke Mandeville.

“They treated him well, but it was worrying and upsetting at the time.”

Having spent less than a week in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Mr Connell was transferred to John Radcliffe in Oxford.

The severity of his injuries left doctors with no choice but to operate and fit an external frame to his leg.

BFP front page from October 4, 2013, with A&E campaigners slamming the ambulance response.

The former Trinity United Reformed Church deacon, who has seven children, 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, was in and out of hospital for more than a year.

He said: “My independence has been snatched away from me and I have been very depressed since the accident.”

Before the crash, Mr Connell was a keen gardener and enjoyed holidays abroad with his wife, but he is now mostly unable to carry out these hobbies and is instead reliant upon a wheelchair.

Mr Connell has now been awarded a “significant” five-figure settlement covering his rehabilitation and care costs.

Specialist injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, Anna Pask, said: “Although the settlement cannot make up for what he has been through, the money can be used to provide additional care and rehabilitation to try and help him regain some of his independence.”