More GIVICs for Cambs Ambulance
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• A dozen more Canadian-built GMC Tri-Star ambulances have been ordered by the Cambridgeshire Ambulance Service.
The 6.2-litre diesel-powered vehicles are scheduled for delivery before next March and will replace time-served petrol Ford Transits.
They cost ,k50,000 apiece, including medical equipment, power steering, air-conditioning, a four-speed automatic gearbox and anti-lock brakes. The bodies are built by Tri-Star Industries of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
Cambridgeshire already operates 12 GMC Tr-Stars as part of its 40-strong front-line fleet. Chief ambulance officer Tim Rawlinson says: "The drivers weren't sure about them at first and found the power steering quite a handful," but a training course sorted this out and he is pleased with their performance.
The service first saw TrStars at Ambex five years ago. It opted for them because it was suffering too many breakdowns with European-built vehicles, says Rawlinson, and was unhappy with the delivery times quoted by other manufacturers.
"We were ordering Ford Transit ambulance chassis," he says. "They were taking 40 weeks to deliver and we still had to have the bodies fitted." A fully equipped GMC Tri-Star can be supplied within four weeks.
The Tr-Stars will remain in service for six or seven years, covering some 300,000 miles before they are sold off. The current models are returning around 21lit/100km (13-14mpg) compared with 12-13rnpg returned by the petrol Transits.
RH Bodyworks at Eye in Suffolk is handling warranty work on Tr-Star's behalf and dealing with any technical problems that Rawlinson's technicians cannot solve themselves,
Norfolk ambulance service is also running Tr-Stars, says Rawlinson. The two services make many of their purchasing decisions jointly to obtain a more competitive deal and have 45 Tr-Stars in operation between them.