YORKSHIRE ambulance staff have voted to take strike action over changes in shift patterns, which unions claim could mean paramedics going more than ten hours without a meal break and staff being forced to work 12-hour shifts.

Members of the union Unite voted overwhelmingly for a 24- hour strike, which will start just after midnight on Saturday, February 1.

They will strike again for four hours between 3pm and 7pm on Monday, February 3.

Terry Cunliffe, the Unite union’s regional officer, has again called for talks with the trust’s chief executive David Whiting on the new shift patterns.