Service buys 160 more ambulances
 

More at:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7978319.stm

East Midlands Ambulance Service has ordered a fleet of five super-strength ambulances to deal with obese patients.
The tailgates will be strong enough to lift patients who weigh up to 55 stones.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2357128.ece

55stone is 350kg.
Our local buses have a platform rated @ 300kg.

From another source

East Midlands Ambulance Service has spent about £500,000 on the vehicles.
Each has extra-strong stretchers and a tailgate capable of bearing 55 stones.
More than £400,000 has been spent on lifting equipment.

They are not the only ones

http://www.ukmedix.com/weight-loss/s..._obese4496.cfm

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...nts/article.do

Does anyone know what they'll be? Merc's I presume as they seem to be the most popular wherever I have seen an ambulance.

Our local authority had a period when they abandoned the usual suppliers and imported American purpose-built ambulances.
I don't think that they were 'successful' as they have returned to the previous sources.

Yeah. I notice that there was one around here and, if I remember rightly, one in Shetland too, but they didn't seem to last long. Probably too heavy on fuel.

Also, maybe a problem servicing them as, I suspect, the bolts etc would be in AF and not metric?