Author: UK Emergency Vehicles

This BMW R 1150 RT is decked out in orange and yellow squares and is used by the Freewheelers blood service charity. The rear and side view of the same motorbike. It has clear 'blood' wording on all sides and three blue flashing lights for emergency work.

This 2006 Ford Transit T260 is used by the NBS for the transport of blood. It carries a blue light bar on its roof as well as four LED repeaters on the grill and front wings. The side view of the short wheel-base Transit.

This Honda ST1300P is used by Freewheelers, a charitable medical transportation service. The bike is used to transport human blood and any other small medical items that are required by hospitals. The blue light are only used in exceptional circumstances when human life is at stake. The rear view of the 53-reg bike. The registration has been partially disguised here.

Here is the first motorbike that Freewheelers used when they started in 1991. It is a red Yamaha Diversion 600 and is decked out in a simple livery with blue lights added. The rear view of the Yamaha showing the panniers and rack.

SERV started using this Yamaha fjr1300abs bike in 2007 to help cope with the increased demands placed on the blood runners charity.

This is a NBS Ford Focus used for urgent blood transfers. This night time shot shows the blinding blue lights fitted to the roof, windscreen and wings.

This Mercedes Benz Sprinter is one of a number that are operated by the NBS. They have a refrigerated section in the rear to transport blood and blood products at the optimum 2-4 degrees Celsius. They are also fitted with blue lights all round.

Here is a 55-registration Ford Transit Connect and a 53-registration DAF truck both belonging to the National Blood Service. They both carry the same livery of a wide red stripe. The truck is a 'bloodmobile' which allows people to donate blood in a mobile hospital-style environment. The Transit Connect is used to carry around supplies of blood and related paraphernalia. The rear view of the Ford Transit Connect. It carries a full-width light bar at the front of the roof and has two repeater blue lights at the rear of the roof. The Road Traffic Act permits the NBS to use blue flashing lights when an urgent request comes in from a hospital. However they cannot break the speed limit when using them which can sometimes appear unusual to following drivers.

This Honda Pan European 1300 is the second marked vehicle to be used by SERV (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers). This volunteer organisation delivers blood products to hospitals across Southern England at night, when NHS services are limited. It carries 'blood' wording and blue flashing lights.

This is a Honda Deauville belonging to SERV. It has green and yellow checker markings and clear 'blood' wording. There are no emergency warning lights. The rear view of the Deauville in use. The National Blood Service box is securely attached behind the rider. You can see that there are lots of 'emergency blood' signs, and the SERV logo has also been added to the panniers.

This NBS Ford Transit is fitted with blue lights so it can deliver blood if it is urgently needed. There are a fleet of identical vehicles up and down England and North Wales. The rear view of the same Transit, showing the simple advertising message 'Please Give Blood'.

A NBS Transit with blue lights. This example shows the previous livery, a wide blue side stripe. The message is different on this older vehicle: 'Blood Donors ... Help Save Lives'.

To move a small amount of blood or people, the NBS use cars and mpv's. This Vauxhall Zafira multi-purpose vehicle carries a red and yellow chequered stripe with large 'blood' wording. The roof is marked with 'NBS' to distinguish this vehicle from a police or ambulance vehicle from the air.

This is a Ford Transit Connect diesel van operated by a private courier service. The only marking on the vehicle to signify that it is used for transporting blood is the wording on the roof mounted light bar.

This Ford Focus TDCi estate is used for the urgent transportation of blood by the National Blood Service. The front view shows the slim blue light bar and the blue strobe light next to the rear view mirror. You can also see the roof markings stating 'urgent blood'. The side view of the same car. The NBS originally had a wide blue stripe down the sides of their vehicles (both emergency, and non-emergency), examples of which can be seen in other blood service pages. More recently, they have adopted a (very appropriate) wide red stripe. This rapid deployment vehicle has a third livery of red and yellow battenburg, which is similar in appearance to some fire service cars. The rear and nearside views. The 'phone number, website address and 'NHS' logo can all be seen.

The 2003 livery for the non-emergency blood service vehicles replaces the wide blue stripe with a more appropriate red one. This is shown on this DAF LF.

This is the 2003 battenburg livery of the National Blood Service emergency vehicles. The car pictured is a police specification Vauxhall Vectra with a V6 2.5-litre engine. It has blue strobes in the front and rear indicator clusters as well as a light bar on the roof.

This Renault 21 estate is used for emergency transportation of blood and hence has blue lights and a siren. The rear view of the Renault emergency blood transportation car shown in the photographs.

This is a Ford Sierra estate used for the emergency transport of blood products. This is one of the last Sierras before the Mondeo replaced it.

This is not a blood service vehicle, but it does do a similar job. This ambulance is used solely for the transportation of human organs. The drivers are on call to respond to organ transportation emergencies. There may be a liver at 'A' wanted by a patient at 'B'; and it's life span outside of a human body is severely limited.

This is a non-emergency blood service Mercedes van, which carries the same livery as the emergency cars from the same era do.

This is a smaller Mercedes Vito van which serves the same purpose. Notice the defunct telephone number starting '0345'.

This is a mk.2 Ford Mondeo. Note the extra blue strobe lights mounted next to the headlights.

This Ford Transit Connect is operated by London-based Medical Services and is fitted with blue lights as it is used from time to time for urgent blood transportation work.