Ambulance staff striking will donate generous gifts from public to local food banks - 'There’s just too much!'

Ambulance staff striking in Nottingham will donate the generous gifts given to them by members of the public to local food banks.

Wednesday’s walkout saw ambulance workers and paramedics take industrial action over pay and conditions, in the first such move in a generation.

From paramedics to 999 call handlers, staff at all but one of the services in England and Wales are stopping work during a bitter dispute about pay and conditions.

In Nottingham, the busy ring road that encircles the city is rarely quiet, but is now noisier than ever as drivers show support by blasting horns for ambulance workers on strike.

East Midlands Ambulance Service, which also serves places like Leicestershire and Derbyshire, estimates up to half of its staff are on strike today.

Across the country, the members from Unite, Unison and GMB unions taking action number in the thousands.

Sarah Callaghan is an Emergency Medical Technician working for EMAS. She says she doesn’t want to be on strike, but working conditions are getting worse: “Ultimately it’s for the patients. People aren’t getting an ambulance when they need to get an ambulance, staff are leaving in droves.”

“The conditions that we’re working in are just not fair anymore to anybody involved.”

Sarah added: “There needs to be more money involved because it needs to be attractive for people to come into the job and to retain the people we already have.”

“We’re seeing longer and longer delays in hospital and their staff are burnt out.”

“We cannot continue as it is.”

The Government has accused strikers of risking public safety.

Sarah says that along with other ambulance services, crews here will leave the picket to attend life-threatening emergencies like heart attacks and strokes.

She wants people to know that they aren’t heartless people, that they care deeply about their patients and the public.

The sign that the strikers have the support of the community is mounting in the form of cream doughnuts, muffins and Christmas chocolate.

Strikers say most of it will be in turn given to food banks. There’s just too much to eat.