Definition of an Ambulance

[tonyrec]

There have been many posts about Ambulances and speeding but does anyone know the actual definition of an Ambulance?

Try and put the answer in your own words without looking it up on the internet!

I will post the answer later today

[sheepy]

Morning Tony,

I seem to remember something about having to be capable of carrying a stretcher before it's an ambulance, but not sure how my local paramedic car gets away with blues.

Of course the old joke also springs to mind:

Paddy: Oh Mick, I've hurt meself. Call me an ambulance.

Mick: Erm, Paddy, you're an ambulance.

Sheepy

[toad_oftoadhall]

Heard this on the radio.

It's something like:

A vehicle the sole use of which is to carry sick or injured people.

This is important because all ambulances can also carry body parts and corpses and are therefore *not* ambulances according to the legal definition.

Do I get a prize?

>> Edited by toad_oftoadhall on Wednesday 26th November 10:43

[silverback mike]

Tony, you are beginning to worry me.

[puggit]

So why are local council mini-busses alowed to call themselves ambulances?

[Plotloss]

For the purpose of this thread Ambulances are exempt from the congestion charge!

So come on Tony, how can we save a fiver a day

[loaf]

'Any vehicle which is constructed or adapted for the carriage of the sick, injured, or disabled.'

Or something like that...

[V12Bob]

silverback mike said:

Tony, you are beginning to worry me.

Oh come on Mike, you have the vagaries of your big cat to occupy and frustrate your mind, poor old Tony has to be inventive, though if his next post is going to ask about the contents of a hearse, I shall begin to wonder as well

edited cos my keyboard seems to have lost some letters

>> Edited by V12Bob on Wednesday 26th November 13:53

[streaky]

V12Bob said:

silverback mike said: Tony, you are beginning to worry me. Oh come on Mike, you have the vagaries of your big cat to occupy and frustrate your mind, poor old Tony has to be inventive, though if his next post is going to ask about the contents of a hears, I shal begin to wonder as well

Reminds me of the vicar who had two sets of keys in the vicarage, one set opened the church, the other set opened the graveyard. They were labelled "Hymns" and "Hearse" - Streaky

[loaf]

tonyrec said:

This is the definition that i go by.... 1) Is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose than, the carriage of sick,injured or disabled persons to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given AND 2) Is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such persons by virtue of being marked 'Ambulance' on both sides. All in all its very vague in real terms and open to lots of abuse by the 'John Waynes' of this world but again, common sense must prevail.

There are also issues with rapid response units - paramedic bikes and cars etc have 'ambulance' on them and are taxed as ambulances i.e. zero-rated...but when was the last time you saw a casualty riding pillion???!!??

I suspect the answer to the problem lies in the 'used for an ambulance purpose' argument i.e. the transport of trained personnel to a location where an ambulance purpose is to be carried out...could you confirm or deny, tonyrec?

[GreenV8S]

I had the idea that any vehicle used to carry somebody to hospital for emergency treatment automatically became an ambulance. I.e. if you come across an RTA victim and drive them to the nearest hospital, you have the same status as a big white van with blue flashy things on top.

I also have the idea that you are 'allowed to break the law' (and I'm not entirely sure what that means) if you have a good reason (and I'm not too sure about that one either). For example, I wouldn't expect you to be charged for driving through red lights if you did it to avoid somebody trying to kill you.

Any truth in either of these theories?

(Edited because I can't seem to spell RTA!)

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Wednesday 26th November 12:49

[tonyrec]

Again, its that good old common sense thing!

Recently we were following someone who had been travelling at excess speed on the A406.We were looking for a safe place to stop him when he pulled over. The front seat passenger got out of the car and ran back toward us shouting that there was a child in the back of the car who was having a Fit and needed to get to the nearby Hosp pretty damn quick.

I allowed him to carry on but for some reason i became suspicious as i followed him.

He pulled up outside of the Hosp but noone got out............i approached them and they were all full of remorse as, as i had suspected, they were telling porky pies.

The end result was a driver full of remorse and 3 points after a substantial delay.

Obvioulsy there are genuine cases and we are here to protect life after all.........but there are people out there that try anything to pull the blankets over our well trained eyes.

[drover]

loaf said:

tonyrec said: This is the definition that i go by.... 1) Is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose than, the carriage of sick,injured or disabled persons to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given AND 2) Is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such persons by virtue of being marked 'Ambulance' on both sides. All in all its very vague in real terms and open to lots of abuse by the 'John Waynes' of this world but again, common sense must prevail. There are also issues with rapid response units - paramedic bikes and cars etc have 'ambulance' on them and are taxed as ambulances i.e. zero-rated...but when was the last time you saw a casualty riding pillion???!!?? I suspect the answer to the problem lies in the 'used for an ambulance purpose' argument i.e. the transport of trained personnel to a location where an ambulance purpose is to be carried out...could you confirm or deny, tonyrec?

In addition to the Ambulance Service, some forces have been known to grant BASICS Doctors permission to use blue lights.

[Pies]

tonyrec said:

Again, its that good old common sense thing! Recently we were following someone who had been travelling at excess speed on the A406.We were looking for a safe place to stop him when he pulled over. The front seat passenger got out of the car and ran back toward us shouting that there was a child in the back of the car who was having a Fit and needed to get to the nearby Hosp pretty damn quick. I allowed him to carry on but for some reason i became suspicious as i followed him. He pulled up outside of the Hosp but noone got out............i approached them and they were all full of remorse as, as i had suspected, they were telling porky pies. The end result was a driver full of remorse and 3 points after a substantial delay. Obvioulsy there are genuine cases and we are here to protect life after all.........but there are people out there that try anything to pull the blankets over our well trained eyes.

Why didn't you get out and check before following,and surely if there were a child in the car it would have been better if you drove to it to the hospital and the other car followed behind at normal speed

[tonyrec]

It seemed like there was a matter of urgency about it.
They only had about half a mile to go and traffic was very light due to the time of night.

It gets very complicated when it comes to us doing 'escorts etc' and i wont bore you with the details.
Dont get me wrong though, if it was a matter of life/death then i would do it without question.

Edited because i forgot to answer the last part of your question.
Can you imagine a family following behind at normal speed when their child was being rushed to Hosp.....hhmmmm.....no way

>> Edited by tonyrec on Wednesday 26th November 18:16

[Pies]

[zetec]

Can the private ambulance companies use blue lights?

There is a private ambulance company close to me that uses old NHS ambulances and new ambulances. This company was used to transport the Wessexs' baby to the hospital where Sophie was being treated. The local press had a field day and cue many pictures of private ambulance with flashing blue lights.

[loaf]

zetec said:

Can the private ambulance companies use blue lights?

Simple answer is yes - as long as they do so within the law. There is no stipulation that emergency ambulances have to be NHS/Government.

>> Edited by loaf on Friday 28th November 15:49