Ambulances in wheels dispute
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EXPERTS are baffled by a mystery wheel fault which has put most of the Scottish Ambulance Service's Bedford CF25 vehicles off the road.
The service's 360 CFs, 80 per cent of the fleet, have been blacked by crews after a series of incidents in which rear wheelnuts have worked loose and, in some cases, wheels have fallen off.
There have been around 12 cases of wheels falling off over the past 18 months, and as many as three times that number of cases of wheelnuts shearing off when mechanics have examined wheels.
Attempts to cure the fault have included use of Loctite to ease friction on the nuts, but the only effective action has been "doubling up" of nuts on some vehicles at East Kilbride depot. Crews there are satisfied with the handling.
Scottish Ambulance Service director Derek Buckley told CM that the service was improving and changing the way in which vehicles are in spected and maintained.
He added: "We are trying out the double-ended cone nuts, but have not been able to fit these to all of the fleet yet."
Bedford is equally mystified by the fault which has not appeared in any of the 20,000 similar CFs.
A spokesman said: "We are satisfied that there is nothing wrong with the vehicles or the components,' but we are in close touch with the service and are as anxious as everyone that this is resolved as quickly as possible."