THE first of a new generation of ambulances has taken to the road in North Yorkshire.

The emergency vehicle is the first of 12 £100,000 ambulances destined for the region's roads over the coming months.

And after two months of extensive testing, ambulance chiefs are sure there will be no repeat of the embarrassment of two years ago, when a £4m fleet had to be temporarily mothballed.

On that occasion, heavy hydraulic lifts fitted to the backs of the vehicles caused them to "bottom out" when going over speed humps. Each vehicle had to be modified before it could take to the road.

The latest arrival has gone into service at Bainbridge, where a £250,000 ambulance station was opened only weeks ago.

The remaining 11 ambulances will arrive at stations across the area served by the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) over the next few months. They have a Mercedes chassis and are powered by a 2.9 litre turbo-diesel engine.

Each vehicle has improved cupboard space, a cool-box, a built-in child/baby seat and air-conditioning.

Satellite navigation equipment also comes as a standard.

Bainbridge emergency medical technician Ken Nicholas, a member of the Tenyas vehicle working group, said: "As a group, we were closely involved in the design all the way along.

"The prototype, which was on trial for two months, has since been back to the manufacturers for further fine tuning and modification following recommendations from crews."

He said: "This ambulance has the highest specification available. It's a beauty and we hope it will send out a message that nothing is too good for our patients and staff.

"It's a quality piece, and is much more comfortable both for our patients and for us. The ride is far superior, which has got to benefit our patients out here in the dales, miles from our nearest hospital, the Friarage, at Northallerton.

"We only recently moved into our new station and now we have a tip-top ambulance. If that doesn't demonstrate our commitment to the people in our area, nothing will."