More than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for an ambulance station to be manned by trained staff 24 hours a day to give adequate cover in a widespread rural area.

They are backing a campaign launched by ambulance workers, who claim that the Teesdale area around Barnard Castle, is in danger of being given a poorer service.

Petition sheets have been placed in shops and hotels in the area for little more than a week, and customers have given it overwhelming support.

The North East Ambulance Service has proposed that paramedics would stay on duty throughout the night but would respond to calls singly in cars rather than in two-man ambulances.

In reply to this, the ambulance teams have suggested that the present stations in Barnard Castle and Middleton-in-Teesdale should be merged into one, with one ambulance and two staff on duty every night to give round the clock cover.

Peter Holliday, station officer in Barnard Castle, said yesterday: "Ambulances in Teesdale are not meeting government targets at the moment, so we need a better service, not just a changed one.

"We agree that it would be fine to have paramedics standing by to go out quickly in cars, but they should be in addition to a full ambulance service rather than instead of it."

He said the area was difficult to cover because it has many elderly people living in remote places, as well as many accidents to attend on the A66 and A67 roads.

A spokesman for the regional ambulance service said proposals for the future were still being considered.

A public meeting will be held, at a date still to be arranged, in Barnard Castle to hear all opinions before a decision is made.