A volunteer group which makes life-saving blood deliveries needs to raise thousands of pounds or risk losing its vehicle.

The Service by Emergency Response Volunteers, also known as SERV Kent and Bloodrunners, is a Medway-based charity providing emergency courier services for major hospitals and hospices across Kent.

They work outside of normal working hours, using motorbikes and its vehicle dubbed the “blood car”.

The group of volunteers has now found itself desperate to raise a further £15k to purchase the car, which is coming to the end of its lease.

Since May 2010, SERV Kent has made more than 28,000 NHS blood and sample transfers across the county, and has made upwards of 37,000 journeys.

The blood car’s fleet number is Charlie 1, but it has been renamed Mick-Mac in honour of SERV volunteer and former Met traffic officer Mike McNally, who passed away in December 2020.

The vehicle was originally supplied as a lease from Formula One driver John Surtees CBE, who, along with SERV Kent and the Air Ambulance, was involved in enabling flying with blood on board, which has since been rolled out across the country.

Chairman Arthur Godden said the car was brought in because blood cannot be transported on a motorcycle in all weathers, and there was concern there could not be a regular constant supply of blood if deliveries were made by motorbikes alone.

John then supplied every group with a vehicle free of charge so blood could be delivered in all weathers.

Arthur added: “Unfortunately, at the end of this lease we’ve been informed that the sponsorship will cease as the previous sponsor is unable to continue their support.

“We do have the option to purchase the vehicle directly from the lease company, and to include the additional cost on the fleet insurance, we urgently need to raise £15k.”

Arthur has set up an online fundraiser to help purchase the car, which can be found by clicking here.

“The role of this vehicle along with its counterpart is an essential asset to both the charity and the unfortunate people who need our services,” Arthur added.

“These two vehicles are on permanent standby for our partners at Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance (KSSAA) delivering emergency blood either to the base at Redhill or, in other situations, direct to the scene.”

On top of routine and emergency blood deliveries, the blood car is also used to pick up crews when they are left behind because their helicopter has to return to its base.

The car is also used to assist Demelza and the neonatal units in Kent hospitals delivering donated breast milk for babies whose mothers may be too unwell to feed them.

The service, staffed by volunteers, means crews can give an immediate blood transfusion to critically-injured patients rather than them having to wait until they had been flown to hospital.

This year the ‘Bloodrunners’ team celebrated its tenth anniversary. For more information about the charity and the work it does, click here.

In the last year alone, it enabled air ambulance medics to administer blood or plasma to 149 patients – many of whom would not have survived without receiving this time-critical treatment at the scene.