Debate to be held on whether Air Ambulance should pay duty on fuel (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Debate to be held on whether Air Ambulance should pay duty on fuel

8:30am Thursday 26th April 2012 in News

Should the Air Ambulance be paying duty on fuel?

A PARLIAMENTARY debate will be held into whether Air Ambulance charities – including the one covering Ludlow and Tenbury – should be exempt from fuel duty.

Nationally, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on Whitehall to drop duty for the Air Ambulance, whose regional arm named the Midlands Air Ambulance (MAA) covers the region.

The number of signatures means a Commons debate will now be held.

“MAA will fully support any campaign that will save any Air Ambulance service money on fuel and running costs,”

said the group’s PR and publicity officer, Katy Rose Meaney.

“We receive no government or National Lottery funding and MAA needs to raise more than £6 million through public generosity every year.

“Any money the government can save the service can be put towards the lifesaving missions each Air Ambulance provides.”

She added that it varies between each regional Air Ambulance in relation to what is paid in fuel, who they get fuel from and where their helicopters are based.

Along with Shropshire and Worcestershire, the MAA covers Herefordshire, Staffordshire, and Gloucestershire.

Meanwhile, the Regional Air Ambulance’s trust manager Mark Wilkins has given a talk to members of Leominster’s University of the Third Age (U3A) group.

He told the group that the West Midlands region serves 12 million people and began life in 1991 with a single helicopter based at RAF Cosford.

Sixty per cent of its call-outs are to road traffic accidents with sporting and horse-riding injuries also common.