Retired ambulance driver, 99, on surviving the Blitz – and smog

Carrying patients on canvas stretchers and guiding ambulances through London’s so-called pea-soup smogs are some of the most memorable memories held by one of the oldest ambulance driver retirees.

Ron Ellis, 99, who worked in London throughout the Blitz and deathly smogs, is due to celebrate his 100th birthday weeks after the NHS turns 70.

He started his career as a teenager in the 1930s.

Ambulances at the time were equipped with canvas stretchers and came with a bell rather than a siren.

Ron recalled walking in front of the vehicles carrying the bell and a torch so the vehicle could be seen in pea-soupers – fogs caused by air pollution that historically plagued the city.

He said: “It was a hard job then. The ambulances didn’t have ramps so it wasn’t always easy carrying our patients.

“But we had a lot of fun. They were the best days of my life.

“We worked hard but got by with a good sense of humour.”

Ron, who will become a centenarian on August 27, now lives in a care home close to where he grew up.

While regaling stories of his career, he prefers to talk about happier memories.

“I delivered a lot of babies,” he said.

“One was a baby girl born to an Italian woman. That baby girl grew up and wrote to me. I will never forget that.”

Ron Ellis began working on ambulances in the 1930s.