A terrified mum dialled 999 after her daughter collapsed and stopped breathing - but no ambulance turned up.

Jay-Leigh Anderson, from Kennington in Ashford, says she went into panic mode when eight-year-old Nevaeh suddenly had a seizure and "started to go grey".

She feared her daughter was dying and called for an ambulance.

Miss Anderson was told it was on its way, but 50 minutes later it had not arrived, so rang 999 again. But during this call she was told no ambulance had been sent.

"I went a bit crazy on the phone," the mum-of-four said.

"My daughter seemed fine during the day. It wasn't until late afternoon it happened.

"She got up to sit next to my mum and just flopped on the sofa. My mum thought she had just gone to sleep so she tried to wake her up but couldn't.

"All of a sudden she went into a seizure. We laid her on the floor and she started to go grey.

"I had called 999 and they said an ambulance was on the way but to keep my phone on me in case they needed to ring me back or if the ambulance couldn't come."

The stay-at-home mum called at 4.03pm and was under the impression the ambulance was on its way but says she was "constantly checking out the window" and was left panicking when it never arrived.

"My daughter had started to come round a bit but I still wanted her to be looked at at the hospital," she said.

"Once it got to 50 minutes of waiting I rung them back to ask where the ambulance was. They asked for my details and said no ambulance had been sent out and they only had on the system for a call back to me made.

"I was shocked. My daughter had nearly died in front of me - I didn't want a call back, I needed an ambulance."

Miss Anderson said the person at the other end of the phone was insisting she had been noted to only have someone call her back, so she and her partner took Nevaeh to the William Harvey Hospital themselves.

"It was only when we were in the waiting room at the hospital that I finally got that call back," she said.

"This was nearly two hours after I had made the first call.

"I don't think they would have ever sent an ambulance and I just think if that was an elderly person that couldn't move, they would have been waiting forever.

"I told them on the phone she had stopped breathing - I think it was her body shutting down and reacting to the seizure.

"It was very terrifying. I thought I was going to lose her and I was just in panic mode."

The 28-year-old says her daughter doesn't remember the seizure but was petrified when she woke up afterwards.

"She was crying, during the seizure she had wet herself and we knew something wasn't right.

"It terrified my other daughter who saw the whole thing happen. She had nightmares and was terrified for ages.

"We have now been referred to the children's department at Canterbury Hospital."

The incident happened on February 3 – a day when strikes were not taking place – but Miss Anderson says she has not yet made a formal complaint to the ambulance service.

The mum says she thinks there could have been a mistake involving the incident not being logged the way it should have been.

"I don't want it to happen to anyone else who can't get themselves to the hospital," she said.

"If I hadn't have been able to get to the hospital I would have been worrying it could happen again.

"I was shocked. My daughter had nearly died in front of me - I didn't want a call back I needed an ambulance..."

"She was very drowsy and even in the hospital she was throwing up so it was still affecting her for several hours after.

"She has been OK since and not had any more seizures but she has been getting headaches and feeling dizzy."

Nevaeh has an appointment to try to find out why the seizure happened in the next few days but her mother says it is concerning it has taken this long for her to be seen.

"I understand everything is backed up at the moment," she said. "Maybe because it was her first seizure they aren't too concerned about it.

"It could be epilepsy but I am really not sure. We have no family history of epilepsy.

"I'm just disappointed and upset with 999."

A South East Coast Ambulance service spokesman said: “We are very sorry to hear of Mrs Anderson’s concerns and that her call was not handled to the standard that we would expect.

"We will look into this and would invite Mrs Anderson to contact us directly so we can look into her concerns in more detail.”