The crew of an ambulance which took almost five hours to drive a patient 70 miles from Glasgow to Dumfries have been disciplined.

The two men were transferring heart-bypass patient Allan Lowden from Glasgow's Royal Infirmary to Dumfries Infirmary - a trip which normally takes about 90 minutes.

Instead, they travelled 220 miles via Edinburgh, Jedburgh and Hawick.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said that in future all crews on long journeys will be given printed route maps before they set off.

Mr Lowden, 59, from Kirkcudbrightshire, had undergone a quadruple bypass operation and was being transferred to Dumfries Royal Infirmary to recover.

Instead of heading south from Glasgow to Dumfries, the ambulance driver travelled east towards Edinburgh.

Realising the mistake, the driver then turned south through the Borders.

It is thought that, once Mr Lowden realised that they were heading in the wrong direction, he helped the driver to get to Dumfries.