Boozing paramedics use ambulance to hitch lift to nightclub

A group of off-duty paramedics have been disciplined for hitching a lift in an ambulance after their Christmas party.

As emergency staff braced themselves for one of the busiest periods of the year, eight paramedics decided to take full advantage of on-call workers.

The paramedics - described as "merry" by one witness - flagged down an ambulance driven by colleagues as they spilled out of their Christmas party venue and clambered into the back.

They were dropped off at a taxi rank near a nightclub less than a mile away.

But despite using the ambulance as a free ride, all of the workers and the crew driving the ambulance escaped with a slap on the wrist instead of being sacked.

Witness Betty Richardson said: "I was dumbfounded. We lost count of how many merry people piled into the ambulance.

"Some were saying they were in a rush to make it into the nightclubs. They looked as if they had already had a few to drink.

"I do not want to seem like a killjoy but I think it was totally out of order. I am just glad there was no emergency at the time."

The paramedics from South Western Ambulance Service had been making the most of the refreshments laid on at the Christmas party held for all emergency services in the area.

As they spilled out onto the street outside the International Riviera Centre in Torquay at midnight, the passing ambulance stopped to give them a ride. The group bundled through the double doors at back of the vehicle and were driven further down the road in the incident on December 9.

Ken Wenman, chief executive of the ambulance service, said: "An ambulance was used to drive some paramedics a short distance to a taxi rank. "The on-duty crew were driving past the party when they spotted their colleagues and offered to drive them on a very short journey.

"Their decision and inappropriate behaviour on the night was based on a desire to help colleagues who work in extremely demanding and challenging jobs.

"They wanted to help their colleagues but admit this was not responsible behaviour and apologise for their misjudgment on the night.

"At no time whatsoever were patients put at risk as the ambulance was not out on a call.

"All staff have been issued guidance so this will not happen again in the future."

The ambulance trust, formerly known as the West Country Ambulance Service Trust, was one of six named and shamed in August this year for massaging figures for response times.

A Government health department audit found the trusts had misreported details on life-threatening emergency calls by using tactics such as starting the clock late.

Three emergency workers with a different trust were sacked in August 2003 after an ambulance took one of them home from a nightclub drunk. An emergency call was delayed by three minutes so that Denise MacDonald could be ferried home after a night out boozing.

Her colleague Margaret Conner, who called for an ambulance and control room operator Margaret Gokce(CORR)were also fired by Scottish Ambulance Service while two ambulance crew members were given disciplinary warnings.

A tribunal into the sackings in Glasgow heard ambulance crews had used emergency vehicles to pick up birthday cake and deliver house keys.