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Henrietta Street Ambulance Station

Well, in the eighties, some new Renault ambulances were issued to us. We in the Mersey Region hated them and nobody wanted to work on them. During that time we heard that five ambulancemen in the Birmingham area were in dispute with management because they were refusing to work on Renault ambulances and the media called them "The Renault Five".
 
I do not remember that episode but will make enquiries and let you know. However we did have a batch of Talbot vehicles which had the handbrake lever was between the edge of the seat and the door. This configuration did cause some serious back injuries and the vehicle bodies were transplanted on to Renault Master chassis.
 
Re the Renault Ambulances. These originally petrol Masters, came into the old WMAS as Outpatient vehicles. Fitted with rear ramps and hydraulic lowering gear, they were intended for multi-role transport. Using ratchet clamps, you could transport beds & Wheelchairs, etc., where patients / hospital needs required. They had a number of ergonomic faults though, perhaps the worst being the Clutch Pedal action, very long and heavy. As we'd regularly do 200 miles a day, we often got inflamed knee joints, so, (Where a crew), would take turns to drive. The other problem was length, until you became used to them turning was fraught with danger compared to the old Transits. The reason for their purchase was shrouded in the James Ackers debacle of those days, the fraud cases and collapse of the original WMRHA are well recorded elsewhere on the 'Net.
Malcolm is right about the Peugot Talbots though. In the late 80's, 2 Pelsall based Training Officers, Steve and Gary (Surnames omitted deliberately), sort of ' invented ' their ideal vehicle, and used it as an extra unit on Friday & Saturday nights. I used it once from "the Street" and it was well thought out except for the lack of Saloon / Cab access. in about '92 we saw the first of the Production ones at "the Street". My VERY experienced crewmate JJ, took one look and said "crap !" it only had single rear wheels and would be unsteady on corners. Looking inside they had a very low cab roof and immovable steel buckets for driver's seats, and as Mal says, a dangerously placed handbrake lever between the seat and the door. Soon, torn trouser pockets were commonplace. If you were 5' 8" you could drive one. Under that, you couldn't reach the pedals, over that you couldn't fit into the driver's space. One 5' 1" young lady had to get John the mechanic to fit wooden blocks to the pedals when she was driving ! JJ and I were offered 1 for assessment / use - he rejected it immediately, we had our 'own' Renault as we had been selected to operate a User Unit Paid for "Contract"system and were taken out of normal duties for 3 years. (I returned to A&E at Coventry then Monyhull as we were costing too much according to the Accountants who seized power of the WMAS when it went "Trust" in 1996).
I know that, by 1992, there were serious doubts about vehicle types. A service wide survey followed, identifying the Transit as the BEST vehicle al round, and so, by 1995 we had the newer (Diesel) Transits. In the old WMAS, there were hundreds of Road Staff, and a few Officers, (that has been reversed now !), so it is possible that such a Group as the "Renault 5" could have existed, however,not, to my knowledge in the Central region, maybe in the West (Black Country) or the East (Coventry) though ??????
Any help ?
 
hi maypole
you most certainly got it to a t; your location was correct if you was in the grt charles street area and when you came down and beared right you would have come to it as that would have been the nearest petrol garage to grt charles street at that time but i am just thinking on your approach around that period and the given area and late of a night you would have seen the vagabonds dossing around on the corners because it would have been the very old sally army house
and there used to be old toilets there where they used to doss as the sally army house could only cateur for about twenty people in those days plus there was a little cafe where they could doss late of a night till morning where they could get a sarny from the saly army it was dark and spooky many ime in the dark ages i have walked down there late of a night feling weary my self as i was going home to victoria rd when i was young and single but at that corner of the street there was a garage but i cannot just think of the name of it they was sharks i can just vizualize the gage but some reason i think it began with the itials j then later it changed there name or these new people took over i beleive these people are still there so may be thats where you got your petrol from across the rd but saying that i do not think they was not open till very late eveningpossibly about eight or nine oclock it had a fair size fore court they uesd to have the old taxies standing on there for repairs i would love just think of the name as i had an old car repaired there and i got ripped off as i said they are no longer there is is firm whom are operating today well known whom took over today they have red and white pick up lorries and they also have a garage inwest heath by the man in the moon pub but its posibl that you may have crossed over and asked the ambulance station for help when you found this garage closed as i say it would have been less than a 100 yards across the way best wishes Astonian
Hi Astonian,
Came across your post while browsing - the garage you mention was in Summer Lane and run by 'Joe' Jameson and family. In the 1960's/70's they ran the largest fleet of black-cabs in Birmingham. Made a fortune and drove Rolls Royce!
 
Hi Enzothebaker
Many thanks for reading my thread and for replying to me about the jameson family, and there business
I knew them fairly well indeed and done business with them for years as i only lived along the road
i lived in in inkerman house top floor when they first built it ,they used to repair my cars as well
they always had the black cabs on there forecourt which i knew about they certainly made a good living out of there busines
and i have to say they was the bee knees and certainly when it comes to the costing
plus they had connections to a well known break down services whom would bring them the business
at all hours and nights of days , this company is now operating up the west heath end , i think its the west heath area
if you go from the green at kings norton to longbridge they have a break down service there they have a large fleet
of pick up trucks red and white trucks , i had not mention there name other wise the mods might not want me to mention there name
for legal reasons but this company started out with jamesons there trucks was always parked on jameson allnight and day long
it would not surprize me they are family connection for that reason of this break down service
but jamesonson as you know was there for decades
once again thanks for reading my thread and replying back to me best wishes Astonian;;;;;;
 
Sorry, can't provide a date.

85731703b17829c57ebd3cb146c6bdd4.jpg
 
Year : 1959
Livery : Birmingham Fire & Ambulance Service.
Engine : 6 cylinders 3.5 litre OHV - Austin Princess
Coachbuilder : Appleyard Leeds
Livery : Birmingham Fire and Ambulance Service
Information : Owned by City of Birmingham Fire and Ambulance later West Midlands Ambulance Service.

Photo from the Ambulance Heritage Society

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hi alan so is it safe to presume that all the photos on post 1 are also dated 1959

lyn
 
Sticking my neck out Lyn I would say give or take a couple of years either side the answer is yes. The Morris passenger (no emergency) vehicles look very mid to late 1950's.
You folks in Birmingham have always had the best of many things. Not only were the municipal buses of the highest standard so, it seems, were you ambulances. ;)
Curiously the registration mark of the ambulance in post 28 is that of Worcestershire C.C.
 
Sorry, can't provide a date.

85731703b17829c57ebd3cb146c6bdd4.jpg

Hi... New to the site. I worked at Henrietta Street Station from '74 - '86. The service had just changed from Fire and Ambulance to Birmingham Ambulance Service. None of the vehicles in this pic were in service then but their were a couple still hanging around as I recall. used to admire the lines of the front mudguards. Apart from the bollards (which are still there, just a modern version) and the street signs, that block looks pretty much the same today, shame the road manners have changed so much haha.
 
Not great photo quality but staff from the station may recognise these ladies and gents. Viv.

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Pretty sure that vehicle was in service at Henrietta Street when i started there. The crazy thing about the two tone horns on the roof was that in the winter they would fill with snow or get iced up. In an effort to prevent this happening, we would steal some tube/gauze dressing from the A&E and cover them up. This allowed the tone out but no snow in....... crazy days haha
 
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I believe my dad was what we would now call a PTS driver at Henrietta St. in 1950's and subsequently in PTS control.
 
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