NORTH West Air Ambulance have appealed for more donations to plug a £300,000 funding gap.

Charity chiefs said the organisation needed the additional money to pay for the running of its new helicopter, Katie, which it received in December 2005.

The new state-of-the-art Eurocopter 135 is faster, larger and can remain airborne for longer than the service's previous Balko helicopter but costs £300,000 more to run.

Lynda Brisling, chief executive of the charity, said: "It's the cost of the new technology, it comes at a premium.

"We have never had any difficulty raising sufficient funds to keep airborne in the seven years we have been operational and I am sure people will continue to be generous."

She said the new helicopter had reduced the maximum time to the nearest hospital from 10 minutes to eight.

"In medical terms we have what is known as the golden hour. The first hour is crucial to the patient's survival and the speed of their recovery," she added.

Another benefit of the new helicopter is the additional fourth seat it has, meaning a relative, a doctor or a nurse can travel with the patient.

Last year the air ambulance turned out to 800 incidents 69 per cent of those were in Lancashire.

Road accidents accounted for 47 per cent of all call outs, six per cent were from horse riding incidents, and one in 20 were sports accidents.

Mrs Brislin said the main way people could contribute towards the service's survival was to sign up for the charity's weekly lottery.

From March 20 residents in Hyndburn will be able to donate used clothes which will be collected by a van following the waste collection wagons. Each tonne will raise £200 for the charity. There are plans to roll it out to other boroughs in the future.

To do donate to the charity visit http://www.northwestairambulance.co.uk or call 0800 587 4570.