THE OFFICIAL opening of the new Darlington Ambulance Station took place last Friday.

Mayor of Darlington Doris Jones did the honours at the new station, which is at the Fire and Rescue Service premises on St Cuthbert's Way.

The North East Ambulance Service project was completed in July and is the second to be built by the newly merged ambulance trust. It complements the crew room at the Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The service's chief executive Simon Featherstone, said: "This station gives our staff an excellent base location from which to start their shift.

"It is anticipated that ambulance crews will be able to respond to incidents faster within the Darlington centre and nearby areas.

"The response times have already significantly improved. From April 2001 until March 2002 crews responded to 81 per cent of life threatening emergencies within eight minutes.

"Since April 2002 our crews have reached patients within the Darlington area in eight minutes 88 per cent of the time.

"It is now anticipated with the new move that our crews will be able to respond to incidents even faster."

George Herbert, chief fire officer with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Brigade, said: "We welcome the opportunity for the brigade to work closely with other emergency services.

"Closer working relations away from the emergency environment lend to a higher level of understanding between the services where the public most expect it, whether that be at a fire, a road traffic accident or the plethora of other types of incidents that are dealt with on a regular basis."