Relic of war lost after ambo gaffe

A historic piece of World War I memorabilia was blown up after an ambulance call-out went wrong in Manawatu this week.

A woman in Feilding set off her medical alert bracelet on Tuesday after a fall. But the ambulance was sent to Freyberg St, Levin, rather than Freyberg St, Feilding.

When no one came to the door, the crew got in through a window.

"I was at work and got a phone call from police saying the ambulance service had to break in," collector Barry Gill said. "But then they saw my antique cabinet, and the RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], and called the police and bomb squad."

Gill said he told them that all the pieces had been decommissioned but the squad still removed one of the bombs, which was the first RPG ever made by Britain.

"They said they couldn't tell if it was live or not. There goes a couple of hundred bucks down the toilet. They're not cheap."

Gill said he'd asked for compensation but was refused.

St John had apologised, but he wanted an apology also from the bomb squad member-cum-St John volunteer who had made the decision to remove the RPG.

St John said it was investigating how the mix-up occurred.

The woman who fell in Feilding had been tended to.