Wheel defect in Castlebar ambulance raises suspicion

Liam MacNally

Liam MacNally

A "forensic" examination is being carried out on a Western Health Board ambulance after it was discovered that three nuts were missing from a rear wheel.

The ambulance was on the way to Dublin on Thursday to pick up a patient when "the driver felt the vehicle shudder", according to the chief ambulance officer Mr Ray Bonar. The crew, from the Castlebar ambulance base, noticed that the ambulance was making a strange sound and the driver thought it might have been the gearbox.

The vehicle was diverted to the ambulance garage at St James's Hospital in Dublin while another ambulance crew on contract to the health board in Dublin was detailed to pick up the patient.

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Mr Bonar said he has no doubt the ambulance driver checked his vehicle before the trip, in line with standard procedure, and that everything was in order before the journey began. The ambulance was due to be "examined forensically" in Dublin yesterday.

"There is a degree of suspicion," said Mr Bonar, "because it is not the normal course of events. Three nuts would not disappear at the same time from one wheel. It has never happened before" .

A new ambulance delivered to the base last month had to be returned to the manufacturer because of defects. There have been three breakdowns in the fleet over the past four weeks, including one emergency case where a patient had to wait in a broken-down ambulance for over 35 minutes while a replacement vehicle was sent to the scene.