Fast aid ... from the paramedics on their £6,000 mountain bikes

This is the modern face of the ambulance service…and it’s saving the NHS tens of thousands of pounds in fuel costs.

The paramedics on bicycles came to public attention last weekend after one was sent to the North London home of Peaches Geldof following an alleged drug overdose.

In many instances they can respond to 999 calls faster than ambulances because they can dodge heavy traffic and access pedestrianised areas.

The medics must endure hours of gruelling time trials and cycling proficiency and stamina tests to ensure they can navigate some 25 miles of congested roads a day.

But the tough training also means they are fit enough to treat patients even after a physically demanding shift, which can last 11 hours and involve up to 14 emergency calls.

They must also complete a five-day training course in Penshurst, Kent, for full certification, which takes them to an internationally approved standard of skill and safety.

In London, there are eight teams of two bicycle responders, which each operate in an area limited to a width of a mile and a half.



This allows riders to attend quickly and prevents them from being too tired to react when they arrive. The average response time is now about four or five minutes, but it can be much less.

State-of-the-art: Paramedic Paul Davies from the Cycling response unit with his medical equipment, the key below lists what each bit of equipment is





Tom Lynch, a former British BMX champion and founder and co-ordinator of London’s Cycle Response Unit, said: ‘We’re getting into one-minute response times, and often bikes turn up while the caller is still on the phone to the emergency services.

‘Seven or eight times out of ten, we’re arriving on the scene before ambulances – purely because we can cut through the traffic.



'This means that, in about 40 per cent of all cases, we can actually call off the ambulance if the injuries are minor enough, which frees up crews to attend more serious incidents.’

Mr Lynch, 39, who was last year awarded an MBE for services to cycling and the London Ambulance Service, said the bike teams have saved London Ambulance Service an estimated £45,000 in fuel costs.

The figure is based on each paramedic on duty cycling an average of 25 miles a day, seven days a week, covering distances that would normally require diesel which at today’s prices costs more than £6 a gallon.

He also says having the cycles frees up an estimated 5,000 ambulance hours a year – equivalent to having an extra two vehicles each staffed with two paramedics.

Their kit is state-of-the-art.

London Ambulance Service – which has the largest cycle response unit in the country with 40 bikes – provides aluminium-frame Specialized Rockhoppers, at a cost of £1,000 a time.



But the total cost to fit each one to specification is about £5,000.



Painted in London Ambulance Service livery, they are fitted with blue lights flashing from the handlebars and an emergency siren.

They have 21 gears and come with bullet-proof, puncture-protected Schwalbe Marathon-plus road tyres.



The bikes have three panniers.



While the front two carry the rider’s personal effects, including wet-weather clothing and food, the rear pannier contains eight ‘grab bags’ which hold an advanced medical kit.

This includes defibrillators for heart attacks, oxygen cylinders, painkillers and maternity kits to deliver babies – everything a standard ambulance contains except a stretcher.



In total, the bike weighs more than 50lb fully loaded – a further test of the rider’s fitness.



Their black clothing is all made from lightweight and breathable polyester.

A luminous yellow reflective ballistics vest is bullet-proof and stab-proof.

The medics also carry a torch, a £750 device which alerts them to biological threats, a mobile phone with bluetooth hands-free kit, notebook, whistle, calculator and rubber gloves.



A belt holds more equipment such as a radio, morphine doses, tools, scissors and skeleton keys to housing estates.



Paul Davies, 43, who has been a paramedic for 20 years, now rides one of the bikes. He said: ‘We’re the visible face of the ambulance service which means we’re calm, professional and compassionate – and that’s better than any drug we carry.’





