Turkey-Syria earthquake: Fundraiser, 84, launches ambulance appeal

John Shackleton, 84, said he wanted to help earthquake victims in Turkey after seeing their suffering on TV

An 84-year-old fundraiser has launched an appeal to buy an ambulance which he plans to deliver along with medical supplies to earthquake-hit Turkey.

John Shackleton, from Harrogate, started his charity work in 1990 by helping orphanages in Eastern Europe.

Since then, he has bought dozens of ambulances, stocked them with supplies and delivered them across Europe.

Mr Shackleton said after seeing the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey on TV he felt compelled to help out.

He said over the past few years he and his team had raised about £12,000 for a vehicle by chopping and selling logs.

However, they still needed to raise another £6-8,000 "to buy a decent ambulance", he said.

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the quake "the disaster of the century"

Mr Shackleton acknowledged many people were currently "short of money" due to the cost of living crisis.

He said: "If I can give them something and they can then pay me, that's one way of getting it."

A friend had also set up an online fundraising page for the ambulance appeal, he added.

Mr Shackleton, who has been delivering ambulances and medical supplies for more than 30 years, said he planned to go to Amsterdam as soon as possible to buy a left-hand drive ambulance at auction.

He would then bring it back to North Yorkshire to fill it with medical supplies before setting off with his two co-drivers to deliver it to those areas in Turkey which most needed it.

More than 21,000 people are now known to have died in Monday's earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, with tens of thousands of people living in makeshift shelters in freezing conditions, after losing their homes.

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