Devon Air Ambulance launches 200th landing site

The location at Tews Lane Playing Fields is the second site in Fremington

The Devon Air Ambulance (DAA) has launched its 200th community landing site.

The location at Tews Lane Playing Fields is the second site in Fremington, North Devon, to support night flying operations.

The landing sites enable the charity to reach patients during hours of darkness in rural and remote areas.

Chief executive Helena Holt said this launch marked a "milestone" in the project which started in 2016.

'Really proud'

Ms Holt said: "I think we've done exceptionally well to get to 200, but we still have some areas of the county we would like to have a site in closer to accident hot spots.

"The team are working really hard to do that and liaising with local communities. We're really proud to have got this far but we won't stop there."

Graham Coates, landing site manager, said: "Day time we can land where we need to land and that means we can get as close to patients as possible.

"Night time is slightly different, there's a little bit more restrictions and also it's night so there's other safety implications.

"To have these landing sites, and particularly one like this which is just so big and able to cope with the helicopter, is perfect."