A diabetic man has become the unenviable holder of a new world record for the longest wait on a hospital trolley, according to Guinness World Records.

Tony Collins, 40, from Swindon, spent a back-numbing 77 hours and 30 minutes stuck on a trolley at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon.

Officials at Guinness checked his claim and have now confirmed his wait puts him in the record books.

Mr Collins found out about his new title when he came home from hospital after spending another 60 hours on a trolley.

Mammoth wait

The father-of-two said he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"I can think of better records to have. And unfortunately, it will probably be the sort of record that gets broken every day in the NHS," he said.

Careworker Mr Collins' first mammoth wait was in February 2001 at Swindon's old Princess Margaret Hospital.

Admitted suffering a mystery virus, he spent three days stuck in a corridor near a toilet because there were no beds available.

After recovering he contacted Guinness World Records to see if his wait was unusual, but while they were investigating, he fell ill again.

New hospital

In January he was taken by ambulance to Swindon's Great Western Hospital - the replacement for the Princess Margaret Hospital, which closed in December.

But again Mr Collins was put on a trolley as there were no beds available.

"This time admittedly, I was in a four-bed ward not a corridor. But it does make me angry. This is a brand new hospital and this wasn't supposed to happen again.

"But I don't blame the staff at all, they were excellent," he said.

A Guinness spokeswoman confirmed they had created a new category of "longest hospital trolley duration" for Mr Collins and said he would soon be receiving a certificate.

Operations cancelled

She said: "The trolley wait record is a new one, but it is one we have had quite a few claims about.

"At 77-and-a-half hours, Mr Collins had the longest wait."

The Great Western Hospital opened at the end of December last year but immediately ran into difficulties.

Patients were kept on trolleys and operations were cancelled because of an influx of patients earlier this month.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, was not available for comment but had said it had been exceptionally busy since 1 January.