This map shows cases where walkers have tried to provide grid reference locations, following an incident, to ambulance control rooms, but instead have been asked to provide a postcode.
We have had 43 incidents reported to us so far! If this has happened to you please let us know by emailing Karen Inkster, Led Walks Officer on karen.inkster@ramblers.org.uk.
The red crosses on the map show the trusts which have responded to our request for information regarding this issue.
You can click on the map to zoom in and look at each incident and the responses from the ambulance services.
View Grid Reference Concerns in a larger map
Other Cases
Near Leeds in 2009 a Rail Track Worker was hit by a train. After the accident the emergency services were called and Yorkshire Ambulance Service despatched an ambulance. The ambulance driver could not find his way to the accident site without the assistance of a Network Rail employee as the location did not have an address or postcode (it was on railway infrastructure) and he was unable to use its grid reference.
An investigation conducted by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch recommended that Ambulance Services of the United Kingdom ishould consider ways to reduce the likelihood of ambulance drivers not finding a location that does not have an address or a postcode and, if appropriate, make arrangements for their drivers to be able to use grid references.
You can read further information about this incident here.
Correlating cases to ambulance trusts
The table below shows that we have received cases which correlate to almost every Ambulance Trust in England. This demonstrates that this is a problem for all trusts and is not confirmed to certain areas.
| Ambulance Trust | Reported Cases |
| East Midlands | Northamptonshire 2008 |
| East of England | Essex 2006 Hertfordshire 2010 Hertfordshire (2) 2010 Hertfordshire (3) 2011 |
| Great Western | Salperton 2010 Wiltshire 2009 Wiltshire (2) 2003 Salisbury Plain 2011 East Coast Wiltshire 2011 |
| London | London Loop 2009 |
| North East | Northumbria 2008 Northumbria (2) 2010 Alnwick 2007 North Yorkshire 2010 (incident handled by North East control room) |
| North West | Peak District 2010 Axe Edge Moor 2010 Rochdale 2011 Helsby Hills 2012 |
| South Central | Oxfordshire 2010 Bracknell 2010 Romsey 2010 New Forest 2010 New Forest (2) 2011 Oxfordshire 2011 |
| South East Coast | Poynings 2009 North Downs 2010 North Downs (2) 2011 North Downs (3) |
| South Western | Torquay 2010 Whittington 2010 Tavistock 2010 Devon 2010 Dartmoor 2009 |
| West Midlands | Shropshire 2009 Malvern Hills 1998 Shropshire (2) 2011 Shropshire (3) 2011 Milton Keynes |
| Yorkshire | Iikley 2010 Yorkshire Dales 2010 |
Page updated KI Jan 2012
