A private ambulance contractor which has twice been slammed by a government watchdog has withdrawn its bid to continue to run the service.

Earlier this year health bosses indicated they would not be renewing NSL Kent's £26 million three-year contract to transport non-urgent patients around Kent when it expires next summer.

Months after the Larkfield-based service was launched in 2013, inspectors from the government's health watchdog found it was failing to meet mandatory targets in four out of five areas.

A follow-up inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March last year found improvements had been made but there were still concerns about recruitment procedure and how complaints were dealt with.

The inspection was followed by the sudden departure of managing director Alastair Cooper.

West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had the power to extend NSL's contract for a further two years, but following consultations with patients the body decided to offer the contract out to tender.

An NSL spokesperson said, "Our current contract comes to an end in June 2016 and the Kent clinical commissioning groups have a procurement process in place to help transition the service to a new provider next July.

"On this occasion we have taken the decision not to rebid the contract. We have already successfully delivered 197,000 patient journeys in Kent in 2015 and we remain fully committed to delivering outstanding customer experiences for the full duration of the current contract."

West Kent CCG expects to announce the new contract holder in December.