Life-saving ambulance that can swing into action on the golf course

Sadly, some golfers are struck down by heart attacks or sudden illnesses as they enjoy their favourite pastime. To make matters worse, the emergency services can struggle to reach heart attack victims on golf courses because the terrain isn’t ideal for ambulances.

Help is now at hand, thanks to the ingenuity of a Yorkshire company.

Wakefield-based MTS Group has joined forces with St John Ambulance to create an electric ambulance car to save the lives of people who are taken ill on a golf course. The customised golf club car ambulance is equipped with life-saving first aid equipment, including an automated external defibrillator. The vehicle was unveiled at the Bigga Turf Management Show in Harrogate yesterday.

MTS, which has 39 staff and a £6m turnover, decided to create the vehicle after research showed that large numbers of people suffer heart attacks on golf courses.

Peter Watson, the managing director of MTS Group, said yesterday: “We are delighted to launch the new club car ambulance and believe our major customers will be interested in this product, which is a first for the UK.”

Gill Sharland, a key account co-ordinator at St John Ambulance’s commercial training division, said: “We believe that nobody should die because they needed first aid and didn’t get it – this new vehicle could be the difference between lives lost and lives saved. In the UK, one person suffers a heart attack every two minutes and as many as one in three will die before they reach hospital.

“For each minute that passes without defibrillation, the chances of survival fall by up to 10 per cent. Survival rates increase by more than 50 per cent if a defibrillator is used within the first four minutes.”

MTS, which has more than 25 years’ experience in the plant hire and sales industry, hopes to sell around 20 of the new vehicles over the next year.

Anita Tyler, MTS Group’s operations director, said: “We’re expecting it to be of interest wherever there are crowds, such as sporting events and shopping malls.”