The Ambulance Service published controversial new proposals for the Westcountry on Wednesday, which reveal that Torpoint could lose all of its 999 ambulance cover and instead be looked after by Rapid Response Vehicles. At Liskeard the current 34 hours of ambulance cover each day would be reduced to 20 and in their place will be 10 hours of the RRVs leaving a shortfall of four hours. However, local MP Colin Breed slammed the new proposals as nothing more than a smokescreen to cover up a reduction in services. 'They are trying to tell us their proposals will create a better service and better response times but in reality it will be a worse service,' he said. 'It will cost lives.' Mr Breed added that he believed Westcountry Ambulance were manipulating the system to enhance their response time targets, which he said are failing in rural areas, rather than working on the first class service we are entitled to expect. Under the new proposals Liskeard will have the services of the first Emergency Care Practitioner to be placed in South East Cornwall, and only the third in the county as a whole. This is a highly skilled paramedic trained alongside doctors and nurses, who will operate from 9am - 7pm. Based at a local surgery or the community hospital, the ECP would be deployed by Ambulance Control. Saltash would seem to gain because their current ambulance cover of 24 hours is set to rise to 30, but it is assumed this would be to help out in areas where there would be a reduction. In response to the Torpoint situation where the current 16 hours a day ambulance cover will be wiped out completely, a spokesperson for Westcountry Ambulance said they would be replaced by 20 hours service by the Rapid Response Vehicles. Serious 'This would give Torpoint an extra four hours of cover,' she said. 'When there are 999 calls for serious cases such as heart attacks, a front line ambulance would be alerted at the same time as an RRV. 'The ambulances for Torpoint can be sourced from both sides of the river, and if coming from Plymouth we have an arrangement for the ferries to stop for us.' But Torpoint mayor Alan Brimacombe says he is very concerned about the proposed new arrangements. 'On paper they may seem to work, but on the ground there is no way they are practicable,' he said. 'I am angry the Torpoint community has not been consulted and I am writing to the Chief Executive of Westcountry Ambulance in the strongest terms.' Mr Brimacombe said the geographics of the area had not been taken into consideration. 'Once again Torpoint and Rame are the forgotten corners of Cornwall, they have no idea that we are out on a limb here,' he added. Liskeard mayor Sandra Preston, a retired community nurse, said any reduction in ambulance cover was a travesty for local people. 'At the end of the day people's lives are being played with to save money,' she said. 'As well as Liskeard I am concerned for Torpoint and the affect this could have all over Caradon. The people that plan these things havn't got a clue. I am totally opposed. Response Vehicles cannot replace a full equipped ambulance.' In a statement Westcountry Ambulance Services said: 'Agenda for Change, the new pay system and modernisation programme for the NHS has resulted in investments of around £7 million in ambulance staff pay in the Westcountry over the coming year. The ambulance Trust, like most of the NHS is modernising and new, more appropriate ways of responding to patient needs are being implemented within the service and financial constraints which exist. 'The package of proposals, developed in partnership with Unison, provides more ambulance resources to respond to emergency 999 calls, getting the right treatment to patients at the right time and in the right place. 'The Trust will be consulting on its proposals involving public and staff over the coming weeks. The Trust is confident that patients in need of an ambulance for life threatening situations will continue to receive a quality emergency service.'

Viv Twornicki

Driver who used mobile phone is fined £60

As the result of a case that rarely comes before a court, a man has been fined £60 by East Cornwall Magistrates for driving while using a hand-held mobile phone, an offence to which he had pleaded not guilty. Andrew John Clarkson (32) of Thanckes Drive, Torpoint, was also fined £75 after admitting driving without car tax, and ordered to pay £60 costs. PC Paul Carswell, who is based at Torpoint, said in evidence that at 7.30 pm on March 6 last year he was driving a police patrol car and waiting to turn into Antony Road from Tregolls Road. A vehicle driven by Clarkson had approached driving in the Torpoint direction travelling at about 25 mph and in his view for 30 seconds. When he first saw the defendant he was about 30 metres away, and as he passed in front of him the distance was some five metres. He could see that he was holding a mobile phone to his right ear with his right hand. The area was well illuminated by street lighting, and the lights of his own vehicle had also been a factor as Clarkson's vehicle passed in front of him. He followed and had spoken to Clarkson when his vehicle stopped in Fore Street. Clarkson had indicated he would not accept a fixed penalty. Cross examined by Clarkson, the officer said he could clearly see that he was using a mobile. He denied that the first he had seen of the silver flip top model was when Clarkson had got out of his car in Fore Street. Questioned about his own patrol car lights, PC Carswell denied that if they were shining directly on Carswell they had been set illegally as they should have been focused on the number plate. Clarkson told the court that he and PC Carswell frequently had 'run-ins' and stared each other down. Dealing with the incident in question he said that at no time had he used his mobile. The first time that the officer had seen it was when he got out of his own vehicle. The magistrates told Clarkson that they were sure, beyond reasonable doubt, of his guilt. The officer was a trained observer, and they had no reason to doubt his evidence. After being found guilty of the mobile phone offence, Clarkson, a motor trader, admitted that at the time of the offence his road fund license was six days out of date. He had thought he was covered by trade plates but did not realise these had to be displayed for 24 hours a day and not just in office hours.