Health bosses are being forced to spend £515,000 replacing a fleet of ambulance engines after a string of dramatic fires.
Last September, pregnant Kellie Lamb, 23, of Maryport, Cumbria, was in labour inside an ambulance when it caught fire.
She was evacuated to a nearby bus and was eventually put into a police car while they waited for another vehicle to arrive.
The dramatic incident was one of three serious ambulance fires in Cumbria during 2012, linked to an engine fault, which wrecked the vehicles.
Bosses initially fitted anti-fire equipment in the Mercedes-Benz 515 ambulances but now they have revealed they are in the process of replacing the engines in every one of the 103-strong fleet at a total cost of £515,000.
Last night Tim Farron who represents Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria and is also the President of the Liberal Democrats demanded Mercedes-Benz pay for the new engines.
He said: “This news is deeply worrying.
“I’m pleased the ambulance trust is changing every engine, but this vital service should not have to face the further cost pressure of changing a fleet of engines.
“I hope the manufacturer looks at the unique case of the ambulance service and offers to replace them as a goodwill gesture, instead of the taxpayer footing the bill.”
A Sunday Post probe revealed during 2012 there were three occasions when Mercedes-Benz 515 ambulances caught fire last year and were written-off by insurers.
There were a further two fires in Merseyside and Cheshire which ambulance bosses said were caused by a problem with the “remote boost start control” in its Mercedes-Benz 516 model.
But these fires were less severe and the vehicles were repaired.
A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said: “The Trust is totally committed to ensuring the health and safety of all its staff and patients and therefore, as a precautionary measure, and in line with recommendations made by the manufacturer, the Trust has and is continuing to undertake an engine replacement programme on all the Mercedes 515 vehicles as and when the vehicle mileage reached 100,000 miles.
“The total number of these vehicles is 103.
“To date we have already replaced 70 engines at a cost of £5k each.”
A Mercedes-Benz spokesman said it was working closely with the North West Ambulance Service and had “come to a solution to move forward”.
The spokesman said: “We have a good working relationship with them.
“We have a local dealer in that area who is working with them, doing the routine servicing and some of the replacements as well.
“We are into this with them and we have been talking with them for a number of months.”
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