AMBULANCE chiefs have pulled 17 ambulances from the roads after a routine check revealed two of them to be too heavy.

Two ambulances belonging to the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust were ordered off the A31 on Tuesday after checks revealed the axles were slightly overweight.

The checks were being carried out jointly by Dorset Police and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) on the Ashley Heath weighbridge on the A31.

Lynne Paramor, head of strategic communications at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust, reassured the public that the region still has full ambulance cover as the trust is using its back-up fleet.

Although the trust was only obliged to remove two of the Vauxhall Movano ambulances from the road it removed the rest, which included 14 frontline ambulances, as a precaution, she added.

She said: "We have always got a back-up fleet. We plan for half of our fleet being wiped out at any one time.

"The front axle was overweight. We believe it's a design fault and are now in talks with the manufacturer and an investigation is underway. It's a technicality, more than anything.

"We believe we'll find out what the problem is by the end of the week and any modifications we need to make will be done to get them back on the road as soon as possible.

"For us it really is business as usual. I can't emphasise enough that patient care or staff safety has not been affected."

The trust's target is to reach patients with life-threatening conditions within eight minutes 75 per cent of the time.

During the period of transition between vehicles, the trust was still achieving 80 per cent.

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust has more than 200 front-line ambulances covering Devon, Dorset, Cornwall and Somerset and the Isles of Scilly she added.

A spokesman for Dorset Police confirmed that two ambulances had been found to be overweight in checks carried out on Tuesday.

He said: "VOSA together with Dorset Police carried out a series of large goods vehicles checks in the county on Tuesday afternoon."

"During the checks two South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust ambulances were found to be slightly overweight when checked at Ashley Heath weighbridge on the A31.

"As is normal in such circumstances advice was given and SWAST has taken prompt action."

Vauxhall spokesman Craig Cheetham said: "An ambulance is not a factory finished product, so without knowing who carried out the conversion of a basic panel van into an ambulance, we cannot comment on the situation.

"We would not know what weight the vehicle would have been carrying," he added.