AFTER months of bureaucratic wrangling, an ambulance filled with equipment thanks to an appeal which started in St Audries has finally rolled out of customs in Malta.

The vehicle was a gift from St John Ambulance Somerset to St John Ambulance Malta and duly arrived in the country at the end of April.

But red tape kept it firmly stuck in the customs area of the country's main port until last Tuesday.

Minehead and St Audries St John member Duncan Stafford, who initially set the ball rolling for the appeal, said he was mystified as to why it took three months for the impounded vehicle to be released.

He decided to start a campaign to help St John members in Malta last year after he discovered that his overseas colleagues were desperately short of equipment.

He tracked down an unused ambulance in Chard and then set about collecting equipment to fill it.

He quickly enlisted the support of his own division as well as other groups in Chard, Highbridge and Burnham, Glastonbury and Street, and Taunton.

The fully stocked ambulance was then despatched to Malta courtesy of a special shipping rate through Grimaldi UK Ltd at the end of April.

But Maltese customs only released the vehicle last Tuesday.

Mr Stafford told the Free Press: "I just can't get to the bottom of the delay. All I can say is that we're glad that it's finally got there."