Veezu offers free rides to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s lifesaving crew

Veezu has renewed their partnership with Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, offering a vital service to its advanced pre-hospital emergency service.

Formerly known as Go Carz and A2B Radio Cars in the region, Veezu has set up an account for the air ambulance crew, offering a free taxi service for them to get back from hospital when they have travelled by land ambulance or if the aircraft has needed to return due to nighttime and low visibility.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity operates and funds three air ambulances and a fleet of critical care cars covering six Midlands counties: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. It’s vital pre-hospital emergency service responds to some of the most traumatic incidents such as cardiac arrests, heart attacks and strokes.

Each year, it costs between £13-14 million to maintain its clinical operations, where the charity relies solely on the support of local people and organisations to fund future lifesaving missions.

They have recently opened a new base in Shifnal that will allow them to host more members of staff, events, and educational visits. Veezu will be helping to make travel to and from the base more accessible with QR code displays providing an easy booking service.

The account, which was set up last year following a cash donation, has provided a vital service to the crew of critical care paramedics and doctors.

Pam Hodgetts, corporate partnerships manager at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “Veezu has been supporting Midlands Air Ambulance Charity for a number of years, providing valuable financial and pro bono support.

“On occasion, our aircraft need to return to base due to nighttime flying restrictions, leaving our crew stranded at major trauma centres across the Midlands. Veezu provides a free taxi service to ensure the crew can return to base once their patient handover is complete. As you can imagine, this not only provides our crew with peace of mind but also saves the charity a lot of money. We are extremely grateful for their ongoing support.”

Graham Hoof, regional operations director of Veezu in the Midlands, said: “We’re always happy to offer cash donations to charities but in this case, we thought we could offer something that was of tangible benefit to the charity.

“The Midlands Air Ambulance Charity account has proved useful to its crew over the last year, so it was a no brainer to renew the partnership. We’re so happy we’ve been able to help its team of highly skilled clinicians in instances where they have travelled to hospital via land ambulance or are unable to travel by via aircraft due to poor visibility. After a long shift, especially one where you’ve helped save lives, the last thing you need is to worry about how you’re getting home. “