Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex celebrates decade of night flights

An air ambulance charity is celebrating 10 years of life-saving night flights.

In 2013 Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex became the first service in the UK to begin flying 24/7 after attending a patient involved in a car crash near Canterbury, Kent.

Since then, the charity said its helicopter had carried out 4,106 night flights and cared for 2,355 patients at night.

A fundraising event to mark the milestone is planned for 28 October.

The charity's operational support director, David Wright, said: "Looking back, it's nice to have been part of the team that delivered this innovation.

"Previously there were patients that could not receive such a swift response from our service at night using our response vehicles, due to the geography of our region. To have a system that meant we could deliver the same service regardless of the time of day was great step forward."

The service, which costs £45,000 per day, is run by a charitable trust and largely funded by donations from the local community.

The charity has planned a night-time fundraising walk to mark the milestone at one of its landing sites, Mote Park in Maidstone, on 28 October.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].