In with the new out with the old

New life upstairs deaf down below


Lately we have been receiving deliveries of new ambulances at our station which is of-course fantastic. Our garage has been a sea of yellow over the past few weeks, with the odd white vehicle sitting around namely the original white coloured trial Mercedes which are awful. Parked downstairs are a number of our old LDV's which are being decommissioned and crushed along with sadly their valuable 3.5Ltr Rover V8 engines.

I hear so many people saying how glad they are that the old fleet has gone and how sh?t they were, the most vocal of these are the student paramedics. I agree with them that they were old and tired, that they had seen better days. But lets get a little sentimental now and think about something. How many lives have been saved in the back of these trucks, how many babies have been born and sadly how many last moments were experienced in them. How many romances and arguments, how many times has somebody been standing at the end of their pathway anxiously awaiting our presence and then being relieved upon hearing the LDV's sirens and seeing the distinguishable shape of it rushing up their street. How many times has a Police Officer been first on scene at a stabbing then look up with a sigh of relief when seeing his ambulance colleagues turning up in an LDV.

I really think it is sad to see them go, but I know we must dispose of the old and bring in the new. But lets respect the old and let them go with honour and dignity.