As an ambulanceman in Brighton from 1965 to 1985, I am concerned by the recent revelations in the national Press regarding ambulance services having to call on the fire service to provide cover for emergencies.

We still do not seem able to get ambulances to emergencies within the time limits which have been set.

I remember the days when Brighton ran its own service before the 1974 amalgamation.

All 999 calls went to the then Brighton Police switchboard and ambulance calls were then diverted to the Ambulance Control.

A loud bell rang, a red light flashed and all crews on station dropped what they were doing and dashed to the control room window. The first to get there was given the emergency.

The deputy chief officer would look out of his office window at the exit gate and if he did not see an ambulance leaving within 20 seconds, he wanted to know why.

Sometimes it was due to the fact the very skilled control officer, who somehow knew exactly which of his ambulances was running empty and where, would contact the nearest ambulance by radio and direct it to the incident.

When we arrived at the incident, the comments were not "what took you so long?" but "gosh, you were quick".

I admit traffic density in urban areas was not like it is today and some of the daft one-way systems were not in effect but there always seemed to be an ambulance available without having to call one in from another town.

-Clifford W Witt, Shepham Avenue, Saltdean