Sorry, I haven't explained myself properly!! What I meant to say was this: Of the 37 police forces in the country, only 3 provide a dual purpose (Wilts / Sussex and N Wales...police and HEMS) the others are pure police. Tose 3 I mentioned are partially funded (less than 25%) by the Ambulance trust. It is therefore always going to be primarily a police vehicle. Obviously, should conflict for a call out occur, then it will be dealt with in a humane and logical manner but 9 times out of 10, the police will have precedence. I think what VFR was describing was where joint custody of the a/c was 50/50 between the police authority and the Ambulance trust...now this would be an area for conflict, I suspect....that is why it will "never happen". Think of the interested parties: Ambulance trust / police authority / NAAAS / health authority / charities involved, etc. The unit would sink in a morass of bureaucracy!!!
Best left as is, methinks Charitable air support for the air ambulance (because it is an emmotive issue) and Home Office funding for the police (so that the gov't can keep a firm grip on them!!).
Air ambulance cost on average between £60,000 and £80,000 / month to run...a very expensive proposition for any gov't dept to take on, eh?
Sorry for the confusion..
Better behave...heliport is watching!!
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Thermal runaway.