SUPPORTERS of the Tees Valley police helicopter have made impassioned pleas for the service to survive, with more than 750 people signing a petition backing the aircraft in just three days.

Members of the public have spoken of how the National Police Air Support (Npas) helicopter based at Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) came to their aid at a time of need, taking injured loved ones to hospital and tracking down criminals targetting their property.

One person signing the petition said the helicopter transported her father to hospital when he became critically ill.

Although he later died, she said the helicopter allowed his family to spend a final day with him.

Another woman told how the helicopter took her daughter to hospital after a car accident, while the air ambulance transported her son.

The petition is gathering pace as the fall-out from the announcement that the DTVA base will be one of ten to close nationally intensifies.

Paul Brown, chairman of Cleveland Police Federation, said public was being put at risk by the decision.

"The helicopter will go from taking five to ten minutes to get to an incident to a minimum of 30. People have come out and said it will take 20 but that is when it is airborne.

Mr Brown said the decision was even worse because Cleveland police and crime commission Barry Coppinger was on the Npas board and backed the move.

"Our PCC is incredibly weak - he will never say anything against the government and neither will the ACPO officers in the force.

"His stand is 'I'm not going to get involved with any operational decisions' and the chief constable's stand is 'I can't get involved with anything to do with the budget' - so no-one takes any responsibility."

But while Mr Coppinger admitted it had been a difficult decision, he stressed that it was the right one.

"The reality is that if the Npas did not exist, we would not be able to manage the costs of our own helicopter in these austere times.

"The current funding arrangements mean that in Cleveland we spend over £1.4m per year on air support, which is 2.8 per cent of the national air support costs and we get around one per cent of the policing budget.

"Npas in a streamlined format is the best way to balance our needs, with the funds we have."

The petition was started by James Hind, from Stockton, who said he was overwhelmed by the response.

"We all owe it to the helicopter crew, police officers and the general public in Teesside and the surrounding rural areas to fight to keep this vital service in Teesside," he added.