AN East Lancashire MP has joined forces with health watchdogs to try to secure the future of the Lancashire Air Ambulance.

Burnley MP Peter Pike has teamed up with Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Community Health Council to help the service, which covers 5,500 square miles in Lancashire and serves 7 million people.

Funding the Air Ambulance costs £700,000 every year -- just 10p for every citizen in the county.

The helicopter can transfer patients to any hospital from anywhere in the county in five minutes.

At the moment it is funded by the Automobile Association and donations from the public.

But the contract with the AA expires at the end of May and if it is not renewed, the service will have to find an alternative source of income.

Mr Pike said: "I have been trying for a number of years to secure mainline NHS funding for the service.

"I have raised the issue with the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, and have asked questions in the House of Commons.

"It has been financially supported by the Automobile Association in the past but there is a need for the service to be maintained on a firmer basis."

Chief Officer of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale CHC Helen Gee said: "The Air Ambulance service is always picking people up from hard to reach places, like river banks or the Trough of Bowland.

"They help a lot of seriously injured people who need to get to hospital quickly. We believe it provides a valuable service that should be mainline funded so its future will be secure."