North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS), which covers Cumbria, Lancashire, Mersey Regional, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, selected the cold weather tyres for its ‘blue-light’ Ford Mondeos, Skoda Elegances / Scouts and Volvo V50s. The tyres are being delivered directly to nominated Trust vehicle workshops across the North West, with ATS Euromaster’s extensive mobile tyre fitting fleet – the largest of its type in the country – being used to co-ordinate the replacements promptly on-site.

NWAS fleet manager (Operations) Mick Sweetmore said: “We cover approximately 5,500 square miles of the country with a population of seven million people, and get more than a million emergency calls each year. Whatever the weather it is essential that our crews are able to reach patients safely to provide the necessary care without compromise.

“I am not sure any of us expected such harsh winter conditions to have arrived so early this year, but that actually just makes this new policy even more important. Cold weather tyres make a significant difference which will enable our operational colleagues to keep mobile in the cold, as well as when driving on ice and snow.”

He added: “We know there is high demand for winter tyres across Europe so we are particularly pleased that ATS Euromaster has been able to react so quickly to our needs and supply fitments in all of the required tyre sizes from a single brand.”

Every summer tyre removed by ATS Euromaster will receive a thorough safety inspection before being carefully stored for the winter, ready for re-fitting by the mobile tyre technicians during late March and April 2011. The part-worn cold weather tyres will then receive the same comprehensive safety inspection before being stored until next winter.