Ambulances to carry adverts to raise funds

A NEW sponsorship scheme for ambulances is expected to raise £250,000 a year for the health service as selected companies pay to have their logo or slogans displayed on the emergency vehicles.

Only companies that are judged to be appropriate will be allowed to advertise on ambulances — so brewers and tobacco manufacturers would not be welcome.

Hampshire Ambulance Service has applied to the Government to become the first to put advertisements on its vehicles.

The money raised would go a long way towards covering a £900,000 funding gap that needs to be plugged to avoid cost-cutting by the service this year. The Hampshire Ambulance Trust’s head of finance, Phil Trevorrow, said: “It is a pain-free way of generating more income but it cannot detract from the fact that these are ambulances.”