AMBULANCE boss Richard Claridge rang his control room colleagues for help when he fell down a manhole in his garden and was rushed to hospital by an ambulance driven by his wife.

Mr Claridge, who is based at the service's headquarters in Chippenham, was lifted out of the hole by his wife Mary, who based at Marlborough Ambulance Station, and colleague Tim Painter.

For Mrs Claridge, 39, it was the situation every 99 worker dreads getting a call to their own home.

Mr and Mrs Claridge have a son Daniel, ten, and she said: My first thoughts were that something must have happened to Daniel.

Mr Claridge, 43, a former adviser to BBC1's Casualty, was doing chores at his home in Priorsfield, Marlborough. He had taken off a sewer manhole cover to tip away water from an aquarium he was cleaning. He remembered his wife had reminded him to water some hanging baskets.

He was using the residue of the tank water to water the baskets when he fell into the 2ft 6ins deep manhole.

Mr Claridge said: I sat with my foot in the hole and water all around me and when I pulled myself up to take a look I could see the bottom of my foot looking at me.

He thought he had broken his ankle and called Daniel to bring a mobile telephone.

He said: I did not ring 999 but used an ordinary line we use and I told them I needed an ambulance.

He had a two-and-a-quarter hour operation at Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon that night.