page_title: St John Ambulance (England)
section_title: Vehicles
hierarchical_section_title: St John Ambulance (England) / Vehicles
caption_attribution_description: English: The range of St John UK vehicles. Taken prior to a memorial service at Aintree Birkes
context_page_description: St John Ambulance is a volunteer-led, charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to the teaching and practice of first aid in England. Along with St John Ambulance Cymru, St John Ambulance Northern Ireland, and St John Ambulance Scotland, St John Ambulance is one of four affiliates of the international St John Ambulance movement in the United Kingdom.
  The St John Ambulance Association was founded in 1877 to provide first aid training. In 1887, the St John Ambulance Brigade was founded to provide uniformed medics at public events. In 1968, the two were merged into the present foundation. The organisation is a subsidiary of the England and the Islands priory of the Order of St John. Until 2012, it also managed St John Ambulance services in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
context_section_description: Originally, individual divisions of St John Ambulance were responsible for providing their own vehicles. These have taken many and varied forms, beginning with horse-drawn ambulances. Even into the late twentieth century, with some centralisation of control and classification of vehicle types such as Motor Ambulance Units (the title arising historically as a distinction from horse-drawn units), First Aid Posts and Rapid Deployment Vehicles, there remained within the organisation an enormous range of deployed vehicles of different types and even assorted local vehicle liveries. Some ambulances were donated second-hand from industrial plants, some were purchased (from different suppliers) and some were local conversions of commercial vehicles. At the start of the twenty-first century, new legislation regarding emergency ambulances effectively rendered a significant proportion of the then-current St John Ambulance fleet redundant. The solution was the development of a specialist St John Ambulance vehicle, which was designed jointly by the organisation and vehicle manufacturer Renault. The result was the Crusader 900 ambulance.
  An early assessment suggested that 100 of the Crusader ambulances (costing, at that time, £40,000 each) would be required immediately, representing an investment of £4 million. In 2000, St John Ambulance committed itself to raising £2M by public subscription, whilst English and Welsh Freemasons committed a further £2M, supplying 50 Crusader ambulances which were handed over in local ceremonies across the country during 2000 and 2001. This very large donation allowed the rapid transformation of the national St John Ambulance fleet of front-line ambulances within a much shorter time-scale than could otherwise have been possible. Subsequently, many local Provinces of Freemasons have maintained relations with their local St John Ambulance County units and supported the running costs of these vehicles or even donated further (additional) Crusader ambulances.
  By 2004, the national St John Ambulance emergency vehicle fleet was in a standard corporate livery, with standard vehicle types:
  Crusader – a front-line emergency ambulance, based on the Renault Master (or similar);
  4x4 Ambulance – a four-wheel drive emergency ambulance, based on the Nissan Patrol (or similar), but with additional headroom, for rural and off-road deployment;
  Support Vehicle – either based on a van, car or a 4x4 vehicle, Support Units can be used for a variety of purposes. For instance, a Support Car may be used to carry members to and from duties, in a logistical capacity, or even as a response vehicle on larger duties. Support Vans are normally used only for logistical purposes. Mini-buses are also available and can be used for logistics or the transport of members.
caption: Image showing the various vehicles St John Use (Left to Right: Two Crusaders, a Challenger, a Companion Plus and two further Crusaders)
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