WITH an American style siren and blue flashing lights on all sides, East Lancashire's latest ambulance has taken to the road.

The Ford custom paramedic ambulance was presented to Clitheroe ambulancemen and will be used for emergencies in the Ribble Valley. The vehicle has specialist paramedic equipment including a defibrillator, used for stimulating the heart with electric shocks, and a special stretcher which can be placed in the centre of the vehicle to treat the patient.

Leading ambulanceman John Hornby said: "It will be used for emergencies in a very large area - 220 square miles around the Ribble Valley.

"It has a modern turbo diesel engine which means it can really move.

"We only had one emergency ambulance at Clitheroe which had more than 160,000 miles on the clock and the Ambulance Trust decided we needed at least one new model on the fleet."

Blackburn has just received a new ambulance and Accrington is due to receive one within the next week.

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