A FLEET of taxi drivers who signed up to assist paramedics in life or death situations, is expanding.

Drivers with Fleetways Taxis signed up to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust scheme in February this year, with 10 trained to use defibrillators and oxygen carried in their vehicles, ready to attend emergency scenes and aid patients until paramedics arrive.

The Community First Responders (CFRs), can be called out to help people suffering heart attacks, breathing difficulties, or who have collapsed, in the minutes before ambulances arrive, and five more drivers are currently undergoing CFR training.

The current CFRs have already been called out to a number of calls since the launch of the scheme seven months ago, and a special defibrillator has also been installed at the company's office, close to York Railway Station, to allow them to attend nearby incidents.

Paul Stevens, locality manager for the YAS Community Resilience Team, said: "Community First Responders make a valuable contribution to their communities and we are delighted to welcome additional members of the Fleetways team to the scheme.

"In many medical emergencies the first few minutes are critical. If effective treatment can be performed within those first minutes, lives can be saved and disability reduced. Taxi drivers are situated in the city centre, work a wide range of hours and are mobile across a large area of the locality, this means they could be very well-placed to respond to an emergency situation and help us to save lives at any time, day or night."

Chris Greensmith, office manager at Fleetways Taxis, said: "As a company we were delighted to enter into this collaboration with Yorkshire Ambulance Service and are proud of the efforts our drivers and staff have put into scheme so far. Fleetways also have close links with the York Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and we feel that by providing this voluntary service it shows the measure of our commitment to the hospital, the emergency services and the people of York.”

To find out more about joining the Community First Responder scheme, email neil.marsay@yas.nhs.uk