Army drivers crash two ambulances
Unions raise concern about soldiers’ lack of training behind wheel
TWO ambulances driven by the military crashed within 48 hours of the Army being brought in to help Scotland’s 999 crisis.
Now unions have raised concerns over using military drivers carrying out ambulance duties, saying they lack the intensive training required.
Unite has been calling for the Scottish Government to use the Army to set up field hospitals so emergency ambulance crews can get a quicker turnaround at hospitals.
But Health Secretary Humza Yousaf instead called in the military to drive ambulances.
Yesterday, an ambulance service source told the Record: “Two Army drivers out of the Leverndale ambulance station in Glasgow have crashed.
“One hit a car half a mile from the ambulance station en route to pick up a patient so there was just a paramedic in it with the Army driver at the time. I haven’t heard if there was a patient in the other one.
“These guys clearly can’t even drive ambulances in daylight never mind a blue light.
“There is a big difference between driving trucks and driving ambulances around Scotland’s roads.
“They are using soldiers in the wrong way.”
The military drivers only started on Sunday and the first crash was the same day. The second followed a day later.
Paramedics in Glasgow fear there may be others around the country they have not heard about.
Paramedics’ union Unite confirmed the bumps were “minor”, with no injuries.
One involved a collision with another vehicle and the second involved a driver reversing into either a bollard or a street lamp.
Unite’s ambulance service convener Jamie McNamee said: “This is the kind of thing we have been warning about.
“People think you just jump into ambulances and off you go but ambulances are not just big vans.
“It takes us four weeks of advanced training to learn to drive them but the military drivers jumped in on Saturday for a quick whirl round and were expected to be competent on the Sunday.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “We are, of course, grateful to the British Army for stepping up to help but this shows there are no short cuts to solving the ambulance crisis.
“This isn’t just about having more drivers, the SNP Government need to listen to Unite and shorten turnaround times so that ambulances aren’t queuing round the block to get in the front door of A&E.”
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) said: “The military drivers supporting SAS are professional drivers who have undergone full training within the military and have had a SAS driving assessment.
“The majority of these drivers have also previously supported other UK ambulance services.”