A 91-year-old woman with suspected heart problems was kept in the back of an ambulance for five hours before being admitted to A&E at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
It got so cold in the ambulance that the woman and the carer with her had to ask for the vehicle to be turned back on to try and keep warm.
News of the wait came as new figures from East Midlands Ambulance Service (Emas) showed that since the start of December 54 people have had to wait up to six hours before crews can hand them over to A&E staff.
Once in A&E the woman, who has not been named, was told it would be another 10 hours before her assessment was complete.