A father ran around the streets to track down a lost ambulance after paramedics took almost an hour to get to his two-year-old son.

Harry Jarvis has a history of febrile convulsions – meaning his temperature spikes when he is ill and he is liable to start having fits – and was admitted to hospital after suffering a seizure five months ago.

Earlier this month the toddler had to be taken out of nursery after developing a temperature and when he began to shiver later that day, dad Nick decided to call 111 as a precaution.

He said: “I was concerned that he may have another seizure.

"Because we had been in the same situation before I called for some advice.

"After answering a few questions, the woman on the other end of the phone called an ambulance to check him out.

“I had not requested this as we did not believe it was an emergency, but we were happy someone would soon be on their way just to check our little boy out.”

The family had recently moved to Springhead Park, Northfleet, and because it is a new estate the ambulance could not find the house, eventually arriving 55 minutes after the initial call.

Mr Jarvis, of Thackeray Drive, who also has a daughter Chloe, one, said: “We found out after I had told the woman on 111 how to get to our house, she had taken the address down wrong.

"But even with the correct address they still could not find us, and I had to put some shoes on and go running around the estate to eventually track them down and direct them.

“I appreciate this was not an emergency, but this has raised huge concerns about what would have happened if it had been a case of life or death.

"Fifty-five minutes would probably have changed the odds of survival significantly.

“With new estates being built all the time in Kent and especially in the Ebbsfleet area, surely the emergency services should have up-to-date information on all new properties as and when people move into them?”

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “We are very sorry it took us longer than it should to attend this young patient and for the additional distress this caused.

“Our current address information was implemented in July 2017 and we update our mapping information at least every six months or sooner if practicably possible.

"However, we are looking at moving towards a quarterly update.

"These updates, which use the latest Ordnance Survey maps, are now more frequent since we introduced our new Computer Aided Dispatch system.

“A further update is anticipated to be incorporated into our system later this month.”