“FLYING squads” of police officers, doctors and nurses were on emergency alert on November 7, 1978, as a strike by ambulance drivers in Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock reached its second day.

The strike, said to have been against the wishes of union officials, was the latest development in a long dispute over a certain type of ambulance which, the drivers said, lost wheels at speed when wheel-nuts loosen. On the first day, police were issued with blankets, pillows and stretchers from the Scottish Ambulance Service as every ambulance in the city and the Inverclyde area was taken off the road. A police car took a man who had suffered a heart attack from Barrhead to the Southern General. Two other patients were ferried by police vehicles to Paisley Infirmary.

That day, no fewer than 110 calls were received in ambulance control rooms, which were unaffected by the dispute. On day two, the control rooms assessed incoming calls for priority and relayed details to police control rooms across Strathclyde. Specially equipped police vans were despatched to serious accidents, while teams of doctors and nurses could be ferried by police cars to major incidents that called for on-the-spot treatment. Among the patients taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary by police was the man shown here; his face has been obscured.

The dispute was quickly settled, however, after talks between the union and the ambulance service, and the crews returned to work.