OVER five years the North West Air Ambulance has more than proved itself in East Lancashire.

From industrial accidents and serious motorway crashes to casualties stranded on isolated moorland the helicopter has shown how it can swoop in to get people to hospital far faster than any motor vehicle.

Moving injured people to hospital swiftly so that they can get intensive treatment is vital in these cases where time can often mean the difference between life and death.

Demand for the helicopter is so great that it actually arrived for its own fifth birthday party yesterday two and a half hours late after being called out to three incidents.

But despite fulfilling a vital emergency service role the history of the Air Ambulance is one of almost constant worries about its financial survival.

It costs almost £1 million a year to run and now relies wholly on donations because government funding, which was worth £400,000 over two years, is no longer available.

Yesterday as some of those who are alive because of it met to toast it's future Chief Executive Lynda Brislin pledged that donations would be forthcoming to ensure the helicopter remains airborne

This must happen. The helicopter is too important to be grounded.