AN ambulance driver from the North-East who was fined for speeding said people in his profession were in a no-win situation.

Steve Gray, of Ashwood Close, Hartlepool, spoke out following uproar over an ambulance driver who faces losing his licence for speeding.

Mike Ferguson, a senior ambulance driver with West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, was transporting a liver from a hospital in Leeds to one in Cambridge, when he was allegedly caught speeding at 104mph.

Union officials in the region are to meet next month to discuss the case, with fears that it may have repercussions for the North-East.

In 1999, Mr Gray was fined £20 and had three points put on his driving licence after he was caught travelling at 42mph in a 30mph zone in Hartlepool.

The 44-year-old, who had had a clean licence for 23 years, had been travelling to Stockton, Teesside, where he was due to provide emergency standby cover.

He said: "Ambulance drivers are in a no-win situation. The ambulance driver was in an emergency, he had to get the liver there in time, the liver could have deteriorated and if that had happened, he would have been in trouble."

Rory McDermott, of trade union Unison, said: "They tell us on one hand we must respond to 85 per cent of calls within eight minutes. If we are going to be prosecuted for breaking speed limits, we are not going to accept it."

* A former transplant patient in South Wales has said he will pay for any fine and legal costs which could be imposed on Mr Ferguson, who is to plead not guilty to the charge after magistrates adjourned the case until June 11.

Police have backed the prosecution. Richard Childs, the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police, said the case would help clarify traffic law.