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In the event of a power failure on the Post Office telephone lines an auxiliary supply
is automatically switched into circuit and an auxiliary lighting system is brought into
use should the normal supply of electricity fail.
The movement of vehicles at accident stations is controlled from the Headquarters
control room and, from reports received from the crews, the availability of these vehicles
at any time is known and is indicated on an electrically operated indicator board which
shows at any moment whether any particular accident ambulance is in its station, on the
way to a call or returning to its station. The control room officer concerned is thus able to
follow from minute to minute the movements of the entire fleet of accident ambulances
and thus is able to ensure that emergency calls are answered with the minimum of
delay.
A half-hourly ' state ' of the General section, i.e., the number of vehicles and men
available and the number of cases waiting, is maintained from information obtained
from these stations.
In addition to being in direct telephonic communication with the headquarters
control room, each general ambulance station has three or four exchange telephone
lines and each accident station one line through the local exchange for administrative
use and as a stand-by in case of breakdown of the direct line.
Radio-telephony also is being increasingly used in the Accident and General sections
of the service, the accident ambulances remaining under direct headquarters control
while the general ambulances are controlled from their own stations.
Methods of calling an ambulance are given in Annex A.
Staff
The following table shows the staff establishment of the London Ambulance Service Staff
on 31 December, 1958 numbers
Administrative Staff
Officer-in-Charge 1
Assistant Officer-in-Charge 1
Administrative and clerical Officers 27
Supervisor (Headquarters Control Room) 1
Assistant Supervisor (Headquarters Control Room) X
Ambulance Control Clerks :
(a) at Headquarters 32
(b) at Ambulance Stations 42
105
Uniformed Staff
Chief Superintendent 1
Deputy Chief Superintendent and Civil Defence Superintendent 1
Headquarters Superintendent 1
Superintendents at General Stations 6
Assistant Superintendents at Headquarters and at General
Stations 7
Assistant Superintendent for Civil Defence 1
Duty Station Officers (Headquarters) 3
Station Officers at Accident Stations 19
Station Officers for Civil Defence 3
Leading Drivers at General Stations 12
Leading Drivers at Headquarters Station 4
Drivers/Attendants at General Stations 408
Drivers/Attendants at Accident Stations 346
Total 812
79