EMERGENCY service bosses have hit out at thieves who stole a valuable piece of equipment from an ambulance as the crew dealt with a patient.

Paramedics were treating a pensioner who suffered a head injury in Ramsden Heath, near Billericay, when thieves broke into the ambulance and stole their satellite navigation screen.

Chiefs at the Essex Ambulance Service said while the equipment was useless to thieves, its theft could cost lives in the county.

Published Wednesday, November 23, 2005