THE lifesaving Great North Air Ambulance could be grounded from next year unless £2.5m can be raised, the charity warned yesterday.

European regulations due to be enforced next year mean the current craft flying out of Teesside International Airport, which attends emergencies in the Tees Valley, South Durham and North Yorkshire, could breach safety rules.

Air ambulance bosses, celebrating the service's first anniversary yesterday, launched an appeal for a new helicopter.

Fundraising director John Everson said: "What we want to buy is an MD Explorer 902, costing about £2.5m. It will conform exactly with EU regulations, it is faster and it has got all the things we need.

"From 2004 or 2005, all air ambulances must be fitted with certain equipment.

"A lot of air ambulances across the country will be grounded because of this. We want to make sure we are not."

The air ambulance was launched at Teesside Airport last July on a month's trial, and began operating on a full-time basis in March.

It has carried out almost 500 missions and saved countless lives. A craft has operated from Blyth, in Northumberland, since 1991 and will also need to be replaced, although the appeal is solely for the Teesside air ambulance.

The appeal will run alongside an ongoing attempt to raise £1.5m a year to keep the craft in operation.

Operations manager Matty Ward said: "We really have to replace this aircraft or we are going to be grounded.

"If we have got a new generation aircraft, it will be quicker, smoother and quieter, and it will have more capacity for carrying stretchers and equipment. It is vital."

Chief executive Grahame Pickering yesterday revealed a scheme which means police officers in North Yorkshire will be able to call up the air ambulance directly instead of going via emergency services.

If successful, it will be introduced across the region.

He also announced that from September, it will carry a doctor, as well as two paramedics, at all times.

Donations can be sent to the Great North Air Ambulance, Northumberland Wing, The Imperial Centre, Grange Road, Darlington, DL1 5NQ, or call (01325) 487263.

The 120mph lifeline that patrols the North-East skies

* The current craft at Teesside is 20 years old and is serviced after every 50 hours of flight.

* The maximum weight the aircraft can carry is 2,200kg.

* The amount of fuel which can be used depends on how many people and how much equipment is on board. The heavier the weight on board, the less fuel. The new craft would be able to carry maximum fuel at all times.

* The craft usually carries enough fuel for an hour-and-a-half journey, normally flies at 1,000ft, and travels at 120mph.

* The most unusual journey undertaken was to the Isle of Skye, transferring a patient who crashed her car in the North-East to a hospital near her home. The craft regularly makes hospital transfer trips around the British mainland, including to London, Manchester and Aberdeen.

* Since its launch, the helicopter has carried out almost 500 missions and carried nearly 300 patients. Some missions are called off because of adverse weather conditions, or when a road crew can deal with the situation faster.

* The air ambulance at Teesside operates from 8am to 6pm every day. A new craft would be able to carry out night-time missions.

* Forty per cent of missions are to attend road crashes. But the ambulance can deal with most emergencies, from walking accidents on remote moors to a child falling in a garden pond.

* Except on rare occasions, the crew will not attend suicide attempts or women giving birth.