THE Westcountry Ambulance Service is backing a campaign spearheaded by an Okehampton resident to make training for drivers of private medical vehicles compulsory.

The campaign to tighten the law so private ambulances cannot be driven by untrained drivers was launched following the death of Ken Williams? 23-year-old niece four years ago, and has been supported by West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett and Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw.

Kathryn Jones was killed almost immediately when a private ambulance shot across a road in Bath and into her vehicle two days before Christmas.

The driver was later convicted of driving offences and has subsequently been on a training course.

Since then many cases have come to Mr Williams? attention where private ambulances have been involved in accidents resulting in serious injury.

He is calling for the training of all private ambulance service drivers to be as good as the high standard of the Westcountry Ambulance Service drivers.

A spokeswoman for the Westcountry Ambulance Service said all paramedics and technicians undergo rigorous training before they can drive an ambulance under emergency conditions.

?The Trust feels that all private ambulance services should follow the line of the NHS ambulance services regarding training their staff in specialist and advanced driving techniques,? she said

Mr Williams, who runs the South West region of the charity Roadpeace which campaigns for measures to reduce death and injury on the roads, said things had changed from four years ago but there was still a long way to go.

He said the standards agency together with the Department of Health was working with the four emergency services to enforce a core competency for private drivers who were contracted to help with emergencies.

?Someone without training who is driving an ambulance is putting everybody else at risk because they are travelling at speed without the experience to react quickly if something happens around them,? said Mr Williams.

Around 700 private ambulances now work for NHS hospitals across the country after ambulance work was put out to tender in the early 1990s.

They mostly carry out routine and non-emergency work to help ease pressure but can be called into action if resources are stretched.

The Roadpeace Helpline, which receives three to four bereavement calls a day, is 020 8964 1021.