Secret donor funds fast car

The anonymous donation will pay for the leasing costs of the life-saving car in Preston for the next four years.

And the un-named benefactor, identified only as a family charitable trust in the city, is also funding four community defibrillators.

“This is the first vehicle we have had donated to the service here in Lancashire and I’ve no doubt it will make a huge contribution to saving lives in Preston,” said Graham Curry, sector manager for the North West Ambulance Service in Lancashire.

“A big thank you from NWAS to the family trust for their incredible donation.”

The RRV goes live this week and will be operated by a fully-trained paramedic responding to patients with life-threatening conditions in the Preston area.

The service said the family trust had been keen to sponsor an NWAS vehicle and, working closely with the Cardiac Smart Team, they had decided their best option was to sponsor an RRV and defibrillators.

The defibrillators will be placed in community buildings around Preston.

Ambulance service community fundraiser Kevin Hookham said: “I’m absolutely delighted with this extremely generous donation from our anonymous donor.

“It’s great to work in partnership with a family charitable trust that wants to put something back into their community in order to help local people.

“There was a range of options on the table, but the donors were very keen to sponsor a vehicle at £8,500 per year, along with the defibrillators at £1,500 each. This is a great example of two organisations working together to increase the number of resources on our roads in Preston.”

RRVs are sent to an emergency ahead of an ambulance and are able to start life-saving treatment before a paramedic crew arrives.