A FLEET of new ambulances, costing £4m, has been forced off the road because they cannot manoeuvre over speed ramps.

The ambulances were bought by Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service last year from Germany to provide more comfort for patients and a better working environment for crews.

But the design of the ambulances, which have lifting gear at the back to make it easier for patients to get into them, meant they could not get over speed ramps.

Since then they have been parked in back yards of ambulance stations.

One of the Mercedes ambulances has now been returned to the manufacturers in Germany and eight more will be worked on in the UK.

They will be on the road by the end of September as part of a programme to make them all usable.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: "It was following the delivery of the first batch of these vehicles that we decided on further improvements. This came to our attention via our staff.

"We therefore took them off the road, pending the modifications."