Ambulance passenger 'had to pay for petrol'

A pregnant woman's partner had to lend an ambulance crew £40 to buy petrol after their vehicle almost ran dry on the 130-mile journey to hospital, it emerged today.

Chris Boag, of Brentwood, in Essex, had to lend the ambulance driver the cash after his credit card was refused when he stopped for petrol on the way to hospital.

The incident happened after Mr Boag's partner Julia Paul, 30, went into premature labour and had to be taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary, 130 miles away.

The couple's local hospital in Chelmsford said it was unable to care for a premature baby and could not find a suitable hospital for two days.

But the first ambulance used to take Ms Paul to Leicester had a flat tyre and the second did not have enough petrol.

Essex Ambulance has now extended the use of its petrol cards to allow them to be used at three of the major garage chains.

"All the crews are now given petrol cards which they can now use at all Shell, BP and Esso garages.

"Before the changes were put in place, the cards could only be used at Esso stations because Esso have the best coverage in Essex and the vast majority of what we do is in Essex," a spokesman for Essex Ambulance Service said.

The spokesman said he was confident the changes would ensure the situation was never repeated again.

"It was the most unfortunate set of circumstances and we are just relieved that the mother and child are well" he said.