Sat-nav thieves disable ambulances

Equipmemnt worth thousands of pounds has been stolen from ambulances while paramedics helped patients in the West Midlands, new figures reveal.

Thieves struck 46 times between April 2007 and March 2010, mostly taking costly satellite navigation systems screens.

High-visibility jackets, medical kits, mobile phones and even blue emergency lights were also among the items stolen.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said each time an ambulance was raided, the vehicle had to be taken off the road if equipment needed replacing or damage had to be repaired.

The total estimated cost of replacing the equipment was £32,997, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. The sat-nav screens, which cost £1,225 each to replace, can only be used in ambulances so are of no use to thieves, bosses said.

Most of the thefts took place outside patients' homes but thieves also sneaked on to vehicles while they were parked at crash scenes, hospital emergency departments and ambulance stations in the region. Each theft is investigated by the ambulance service and any security issues are immediately addressed.

West Midlands Ambulance spokesman Chris Kowalik said today: "Many of the cases listed involved the theft of screens connected to our sat-nav system. But, unlike domestic sat-navs — these screens are of no use when removed from our vehicle.

"When there is a theft from one of our vehicles, that vehicle has to be taken off the road for any damage to be repaired and for the equipment to be replaced.

"It means, during that time, there is one less emergency vehicle available for us to use to respond to 999 calls.

"Each theft is individually investigated and staff using the vehicle at the time interviewed.

"It is from the findings of each investigation that any security issues are addressed either with the vehicle concerned or the wider fleet." Last year, thieves stole a satellite navigation system from outside a house in Sparkhill on Christmas Eve.

But thanks to its Global Positioning System, its whereabouts were constantly tracked by a manager at the service's Emergency Operations Centre in Brierley Hill.

The equipment was tracked for 20 minutes until it came to a standstill at Digbeth Market near The Bullring.

Speaking at the time, ambulance spokeswoman Claire Thomas said: "Knowing that a number of mobile phone stalls operate within the market, the manager contacted Digbeth Market's security team who dispatched resources to the known stalls and, within minutes, successfully apprehended the culprits and recovered the stolen device."