LANCASHIRE ambulance crews today welcomed a landmark decision which will stop the hundreds of speeding tickets they receive each month.

Up to 700 tickets have to be dealt with at the Preston headquarters every month.

But Health Minister Rosie Winterton has announced that all emergency services responding to 999 calls will now be exempted.

Previously ambulance trusts, including Lancashire, had to recruit extra staff to deal solely with searching 999 incident records to provide evidence exempting crews from speeding penalties.

This was because the flashing blue strobe lights on the ambulances were not picked up by cameras and police could not tell whether the ambulance was being used under emergency conditions.

Lancashire Ambulance Service has worked in partnership with Lancashire Constabulary on a successful pilot initiative to solve this.

Now ambulances across the county will be fitted with an additional static blue light at the rear of the vehicle which operates only when the vehicle is travelling under blue light conditions and is clearly visible on film.

David Hill, chief executive of Lancashire Ambulance Service, said: "I am delighted that we have agreed this commonsense approach with the police in Lancashire.

"There is no doubt that speeding costs lives and I fully support the provision of speed cameras as a deterrent. It has however been very frustrating that we have had to process a considerable number of speeding tickets triggered whilst our crews have been responding to 999 calls. Lancashire police have appreciated the problem and have worked with us to find a way of resolving it.

"The announcement by the Minister will reinforce the validity of the approach we adopted in Lancashire."

Steve Watt, director of A&E operations, added: "Our crews work tirelessly for the benefit of the people of Lancashire and this announcement allows vital 'behind the scenes' resources to be freed up to further support front line crews.

"This landmark announcement recognises the skills and training our staff have in dealing with emergency responding on the county's roads."