A row has broken out between the emergency services after allegations that swingeing budget cuts are putting lives at risk.
Leading Leighton firefighter, Jason Hollamby, hit out at the time taken by ambulances to reach the scene of accidents and emergencies saying that it often put his men in impossible situations.
He had nothing but praise for the hard-working 999 paramedics who work for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) but accused the Trust of putting budgets before frontline services.
Mr Hollamby, watch commander in charge of fire crews at Leighton Fire Station, claimed that there were too few ambulances to respond to emergencies and that it wasn’t uncommon to wait at an accident scene for 45 minutes before one arrived.
Recently, he said, one of his men overheard a request asking whether there were any ambulances in the Luton area which could respond to an emergency in Great Yarmouth – 130 miles away. 999 calls to Leighton often see ambulances arriving from other counties more than 20 miles away. The accusations have been vehemently denied by the ambulance service which says response times in Leighton are some of the best in the region.
For the full story see the December 11 issue of the Leighton Buzzard Observer.
