Published: 13th February 2008 | Author: Manchester Evening News Online

MINDLESS thugs put an elderly woman's life at risk when they smashed into an ambulance and stole its sat-nav as she was treated by paramedics.

It was yet another sickening attack in rapidly-growing onslought against 999 crews from all our emergency services - police, fire and rescue and ambulance.

After the latest attack, it took vital minutes for a replacement vehicle to arrive and take the critically-ill 85-year-old to hospital.

She survived, but the delay could easily have proved fatal.

The attack happened outside a residential home on Walney Road in Benchill, Wythenshawe. A window of the ambulance was smashed with a large rock and the vehicle was left strewn with glass and impossible to drive - and will cost up to £2,000 to repair.

Ironically, the sat-nav system is worthless to the thieves. It cannot operate outside the ambulance and there are warning signs on windows to deter would-be thieves.

While waiting for a replacement, the ambulance staff did keep the woman in a stable condition. But one paramedic said the attack may have left other patients desperate for help.

A response vehicle had arrived at the home at 12.54am to assess the situation and the first ambulance arrived at 1.01pm.

Its replacement got there at 1.17 - a spread of 23 minutes.

"The replacement ambulance could have been dealing with someone else," said the anonymous paramedic, "and you can see why it puts seconds on to every job.

Risk

"It a massive inconvenience and it puts the public at risk.

"The broken window can be fixed, but it will take a while for the sat-nav to be running again.

"Without that, we won't be able to get to jobs as quickly."

He added that the sat-navs were useless if disconnected from ambulance software - with stickers warning would-be robbers. The paramedic said: "We put them under the windows, but obviously some people don't care - or can't read.

"The system will probably end up chucked in a bush."

Delwyn Wray, area director for the North West Ambulance Service, said the theft was `an act of pure vandalism'.

He added: "The patient was an elderly female who required emergency medical assistance - that should speak for itself."

The thefts and subsequent damage to vehicles are thought to have cost the North West Ambulance Service more than £100,000 over the last year.

Delwyn Wray, area director for NWAS, said: “These acts of vandalism mean we have often have to double our resources at an incident and can delay transporting a patient to hospital – this can inevitably put lives at risk.”