This is no humane decision by our county council, which prevents ambulance transport from using the High Street bus gate (Oxford Mail, May 22).

If any hospital patient is awarded ambulance transport, there has to be a good medical reason. It is fairly obvious to anyone with an iota of compassion that accident victims and disabled, ill, or ‘infirm’ people often feel worse being conveyed from hospital to home after treatment and vice versa.

Ambulance personnel are usually in the best position to gauge a need for a person’s speedy move to their destination. Special training is hardly needed to ascertain a patient is particularly unwell after their ‘outpatient’ appointment.

The county council’s stance is ‘there were no plans to review the types of vehicles exempt from the restrictions (how predictable) – the rules are the rules.

Well, I ask, where is your compassion toward your suffering fellow man/ woman? After all, what is it likely to cost the council to change exemptions? Very little, I suspect.

Do they think hordes of ambulance vehicles will descend on the area, causing massive congestion?

The head of patient transport for this area had previously asked the council if non-emergency ambulance transport could use the bus lanes. The reply was ‘no’ and incredibly they accepted that decision.

Exemption should be demanded, not asked for: you are an ambassador for the less-fortunate of our society and could put a good case to the county council, some of whom are wearing ‘blinkers’.

ALAN KERRY, Newman Road, Littlemore