AMBULANCE crews in the region have voted to be balloted on taking industrial action - including strikes.

It comes after talks between Unison, representing 1,000 employees of the Tees East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas), and ambulance bosses ended in stalemate.

Ray Gray, union regional officer, said: "We have a number of unresolved issues with the trust that have been on going for some time; lack of meal breaks, changes to shift patterns, roving standby, staff unable to take leave, grading issues, back pay issues and the trust failing to implement agreements."

John Darley, Tenyas director of patient services, said the trust had worked with staff to ensure it was a model NHS employer and, in October, had become the sixth ambulance service to win a national standard.

He said: "Most of the issues identified by Unison representatives require local negotiation to resolve and these are all resolvable through collaborative negotiation. It is the speed of the resolution to these local issues that has resulted in some frustrations among Unison representatives."