Power cut off at West Midlands Ambulance centre after metal theft
An ambulance training centre has been without power for five days after thieves stole 40ft of electricity cable.
Staff at the West Midlands Ambulance Service centre, in Sedgley, have been forced to relocate to other venues while the power is restored, costing thousands of pounds.
The thieves had broken into the nearby sub-station, which carries 11,000 volt cables, before digging up a 40ft stretch of cable from the ground and stripping it of its inner copper wiring.
Bosses said they were 'hugely disappointed' at the theft, which they said had led them to spend unnecessary funds in finding alternative training venues.
The trust added that it also had to organise emergency generators and additional security for the building.
Julian Rhodes, the trusts head of training and education, said: "We are hugely disappointed that someone has caused this unnecessary problem to a service which is here to help the public in their hour of need.
"Whilst operational staff are not based here, we train literally hundreds of operational staff every week on new methods to improve patient care.
"What these thieves did was not only damaging to the trust but extremely dangerous as they could've been killed."
He added that they were helping the police with their investigation into Monday's break in.
