Half of Wiltshire 999 control room staff opt for redundancy rather than move (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Half of Wiltshire 999 control room staff opt for redundancy rather than move

8:56am Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Jill Crooks

Almost half of the staff working in the ambulance control room in Wiltshire have opted to take redundancy rather than relocate to Bristol.

Great Western Ambulance Service (now South Western Ambulance Service) announced last year that the control room in Devizes would close to save £700,000 a year.

The control room closed on March 5 and of the 28 operators, 15 decided to move to the control room at Bristol while 13 decided to take redundancy and have now left the organisation, a spokesman said.

The Wiltshire ambulance control room was in the joint emergency services control room at police headquarters, Devizes, and operators from the police and fire service remain there.