Author: UK Emergency Vehicles

This luminous orange Vauxhall Vivaro is used by the medical supplies company SP Services.

This Honda ST1300 is decked out in bright yellow with red checker markings. It has Motorola logos on all sides and the rider's jacket. Written in very small letters on the front is "ambulance service first responder" and the bike is fitted with blue flashing lights all round.

This Vauxhall Vectra is a demonstration car for Jake's Emergency Lights. It is decked out in ambulance-style battenburg markings and is fitted with a range of flashing lights. The front view with some minor revisions.

This Audi-based rapid response ambulance car was custom-built by a Second Life user.

This Fiat Doblo is used by park rangers in the Lambeth borough of London. It is fitted with a floodlight on the roof and a small multi-directional amber flashing light. Another view of the same Fiat Doblo. It carries police-style battenburg markings and 'park ranger' wording written in two different sizes. It carries the council's logo on the front and rear.

This is a Ford Ranger XLT Thunder. It is owned and operated by Birmingham's NEC Group to police the private roads around the National Exhibition Centre. It is decked out in police style battenburg markings and has blue lights fitted. The rear view of the Ford Ranger. The open back of the double-cabbed truck is useful for transporting cones and barriers.

This is another Ford Ranger with the NEC's Traffic section. This example has the rear cover in place over the pick-up's rear storage section.

This is a Mitsubishi Shogun that is used by Birmingham NEC's security guards. It is fitted with blue flashing lights and police-style markings and is used solely on the private roads of the large exhibition centre. The rear view of the security team's Shogun.

This is Iveco van is used by the Salvation Army as an Emergency Response Unit. It is used to provide refreshments at major incidents. The vehicle does not carry any blue lights.

This is Iveco truck used by the National Grid as a Mobile Command Unit. The vehicle is used to provide communication an co-ordination during a major power cut. A second view of the truck. It is deployed to major power outages and is fitted with floodlights and a satellite dish. It has amber flashing lights all round.

This is an ambulance gondola. It is used on the Nevis Mountain Range amongst regular 6-person cable cars that transport people from 300ft to 2150ft in 12 minutes. If a person was injured on the mountainside, this specialist gondola is added to the system and moved to directly above the casualty. From there they can be winched up into it and then transported back down the mountain to safety.

26 BK 38 This unusual vehicle is a military Humber one-tonne armoured vehicle.

This is a Ford Ranger that is used as an Emergency Response vehicle by Epping Forest District Council's Emergency Planning Team. The vehicle is based at North Weald Airfield and is equipped with amber beacons, a PA, siren and light mast. It also has a trailer that can be towed to an incident and used to set up a forward control point, with shelter, tables, chairs, a generator, additional lighting etc.

This Trading Standards car in Oxford is fitted out with fire-style red and yellow battenburg markings. It also carries 'video equipped' wording and the Crime Stoppers telephone number.

This is a red Ford Mondeo that is used by Onus Technologies as a demonstration car. It is seen here is police-style, with blue and red flashing lights and a police sign. The red and yellow colour scheme of the car is the same as fire cars. Inset: a close up of the crest on the front doors.

This is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter that is used by ESS Safeforce as a Confined Space Safety and Rescue vehicle. It is decked out in fire brigade-style yellow and red battenburg markings and has amber lights all round.

This is a Civil Protection Unit operated by Swindon Borough Council. This can be used at major incidents to help coordinate the council's contribution. It has amber flashing lights and is a converted Ford Transit.

This Land Rover Discovery 3 has the same colour scheme as a police vehicle but is used as an 'incident unit' by the amber-light service D&G Cars Ltd. The blue portion of the livery has to be non-reflective to keep within the law.

This is a multi-purpose Land Rover Freelander. It is used to transport medics to remote locations or in snowy weather and also used for traffic monitoring work. It is fitted with a range of amber flashing lights.

This is the Backdraft Wheelie Truck, a custom-built vehicle that looks like a fire engine. It has blue flashing lights all round and water pumps fitted. Here you can see it starting to lift its front wheels as flames ironically shoot from the twin vertical exhausts. The rear view of Backdraft showing its party piece of driving on its rear wheels. It can turn corners by having individual brakes on each wheel. The water tank has been emptied and steel to the same weight has been added for stability.

YKL 374Jis a kit car based on an Austin Mini. Although full liveried, it features no blue lights. It is used for publicity purposes. The rear view showing that this vehicle is intended for beach patrols. It is odd to see such a modern liver on such an old car.

This is a Subaru Impreza Turbo featuring police signs, police crests and even roof markings. It is however used not as an operational vehicle but by the Dorset Police rally team. The rear view, showing the internal roll cage and driver and co-driver's names.

This Mitsubishi 4x4 with private registration plate is owned by 'First Safety' and is used by them as a tactical support unit. It is fitted with amber flashing lights and red and blue squares up the sides. The rear view of the Mitsubishi.

This Volkswagen Beetle look-a-like car is designed for children. It is seen here in a police livery with a comical number plate. It is designed to attract people to the sales stand for Crown Conversions (Airdrie). A lot of effort has gone into building this electric car. It is compete with high visibility markings and even has its own retractable roof.

This Ford Collin County (United States) police car was also spotted in the UK.

A Naval Patrol Land Rover.

An ex-RAF Land Rover. It is in excellent condition and still has a blue revolving light on the roof as well as repeaters on the bull-bars. Above the windscreen is a space where an illuminated 'ambulance' sign used to be. This type of Land Rover was used as crash ambulances. They were used when an aircraft came down away from its base.

This is a 1987 fire-engine-style recovery appliance owned and run by Commercial Services (Tadcaster) CST Ltd. It is an Air Cushion Recovery Unit and shares it's blue colour scheme with a number of similar vehicles in the fleet. However this is the only one to have blue lights fitted. It is an ex-North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue vehicle. After being involved in a crash when on a blue light run, the vehicle was written off and bought by CST. They refurbished it and kept the blue light bar in place. It may be that the vehicle was a declared resource of NYFRS to assist with lifting HGVs as RTCs and that CST have a good relationship with watches at Tadcaster fire station which is almost next door. E789 LAJis the sister vehicle of the appliance. It is an Dennis DS153 / HCB-Angus emergency tender with NYFRS

This is a Vauxhall Astra which is used as a warden's patrol vehicle. Wardens work very closely with the police to provide extra manpower in specific housing estates. This Astra is decked out in a police-style livery and has a camera and monitor mounted inside to collect evidence of criminal or unruly behavior.

An Orange County Sheriff's Ford Crown Victoria police car. The vehicle is used for crime prevention in the UK and was a gift from the US force. The rear view shows the middle livery on the boot lid is Northumbria Police (the owners) and the additional flashing lights on the parcel shelf.

This is probably the smallest police car in Durham Constabulary's Fleet!

This is a Boston Fire Chief fire car. It has red flashing lights and was kept at Allendale, Northumberland by a collector of American vehicles. [non-operational]

Now here's a rare sight for UKev... The Royal 'B'Air Force Sea King helicopter has landed in the Lake District to pick up a wounded bear!

An emergency planning unit run by the local authorities to control all the services in the event of a major disaster.

This is an emergency planning unit trailer. This one carries an inflatable tent for shelter wherever it is needed. It is towed by a white Ford Maverick. The Ford Maverick is shown in the photographs. It is equipped with a Dorman magnetic beacon for when it is used for emergency responses. It has Wig wag flashers front and rear and comes with siren and public address system (used for off-road and public information). In addition it is equipped with VHF, UHF and PMR radio. A 30-foot telescopic mast is mountable to the rear of the vehicle for use as a forward command post and it also comes complete with a electric generator. It also carries a mountable winch, comprehensive first aid kit and foam fire extinguisher and various hi-viz jackets.

Here is a Red Vauxhall Astra, used for emergency responses. It is equipped with a premier hazard orange lightbar, front grill strobes and rear 'wig wag' flashers. Communication is via a Motorsport Safety & Medical Frequency radio, CB and mobile phone. It also has a siren and public address system (this is used off-road for responses and to pass on information to spectators). In addition to this it also carries fire extinguishers, a comprehensive first aid kit, traffic cones, tool kits, scene tape (like police line tape but red/white or red/yellow) and Hi-Vis clothing.