Even a simple call to Ops on the VHF whilst approaching london and they could have had the ambulance ordered and waiting for them by the time they arrived on stand.
And then we'd get out one of the dozen or so ambulances that we have on standby at the airport, along with 24 (or so) driver/technicians...... just like all the other carriers have.
There are two ways to get an ambulance onto the ramp at Gatwick. The first is to book it in advance through an insurance company... usually a minimum of 24 hours in advance, or you request Surrey Ambulance Service to attend... "Is it an emergency?" asks the nice controller. "No" say we, "we just thought it would be nice to get this chappie off with a suspected broken ankle, and he can't wait the 24 hours for the insurance company to arrange it, so if you wouldn't mind popping along......."
The only way to get an un-prearranged casualty off an airport is to request an emergency ambulance.... and the airline pays for it. The BA aircraft will request it through ops (who will make the call) and the crew will advise ATC that an emergency ambulance has been requested and they (ATC) may well decide to expedite the arrival if possible.
Why would A330 driver have a problem with that?
This is just BA bashing. Are you inferring that if Virgin had a similar scenario that ATC would not expedite their arrival also?
On a lighter note, I had the pleasure of speaking with a gentleman who's life had almost certainly been saved by an expeditious diversion into Shannon where he was hospitalised for a week.
This chap lived in Oxford and about a month after the event came down to Gatwick by coach to speak to someone. I listened with great interest to his story of how the crew had discussed his condition with Medlink and him and then on Medlink doctor's advice, had made the decision to divert to Shannon.
I was quite taken aback when I discovered the reason for his visit to Gatwick.........
it took a while to sink in when he said he had come to get compensation for the inconvenience of having to find his own way back to Oxford from Shannon once he had been released from hospital.
I agreed to go through some figures with him, and once we had assertained that by the time all connecting pax had been rebooked and replacement crew sent to Shannon (crew exceeded hours), the 4 hour delay to the next flight operated by that aircraft, the screwing up of rosters etc etc, the cost of the diversion would be in excess of £35000 that we would indeed compensate him once he had done the same for the airline.