Meet our new Deputy Medical Director Andy Holdstock

Our new fleet of critical care cars have arrived!

Published by Claire Harris at August 25, 2026

Two Great Western Air Ambulance Charity Volvo critical care cars driving along a tarmac road with their blue emergency lights flashing

We’re excited to share that on 25 August 2026, our three new critical care cars went into service, strengthening our ability to deliver lifesaving care by road, whatever the weather or terrain.

The new Volvo XC90s replace our older fleet of Skoda Kodiaqs. The Kodiaqs served us well but were nearing the end of their serviceable life. Fully fitted to emergency response standards, our new vehicles are ready to help us respond to people in urgent need across our region of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and parts of Wiltshire.

Two new Great Western Air Ambulance Charity Volvo critical care cars, featuring green and yellow high-visibility livery and "CRITICAL CARE" branding, being transported on the upper deck of a red car transporter truck.

Thank you to the HELP Appeal

It’s thanks to the generous support of the HELP Appeal, that we’ve been able to upgrade our cars. The entire new fleet has been funded at no cost to Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC), ensuring our crew can continue responding to more than six patients a day on average, delivering critical care to people when they need it most.

Operations Officer Tim, says: “Our previous vehicles served us well but were becoming increasingly costly to maintain and more prone to issues as they reached the end of their operational life. We’re very grateful for the support of the HELP Appeal which has helped ensure our crew can continue reaching patients quickly to provide their exceptional level of care to people with life-threatening injuries and medical emergencies every single day.”

Robert Bertram, Chief Executive for the HELP Appeal, said: “While the HELP Appeal is best known for funding lifesaving NHS hospital and air ambulance base helipads which are essential in emergency care, critical care cars are vital too. They enable specialist teams to reach patients quickly when helicopters cannot fly or when travelling by road is the fastest option. We are proud to fund these three state-of-the-art vehicles and sincerely thank our supporters, whose generosity is helping us to deliver lifesaving care in the region and beyond.”

Did you know that the HELP Appeal also funded our airbase at Almondsbury and essential kitbags for our crew, helping to save many lives in our region.

SPCC Dee introduces our new Critical Care Cars and why we need them

Specialist Paramedic in Critical Care (SPCC) Dee talks about our new fleet and talks about the advantages of these modified Volvo XC90s

Watch on Youtube

Why our critical care cars are so important

While our helicopter is perhaps the most recognisable part of our service, our critical care cars play an equally vital role in helping our specialist crew and equipment reach patients in urgent need.

Each vehicle carries the same emergency equipment as our helicopter, including:

A portable ventilator
A LUCAS machine for automatic CPR
An ultrasound device
Blood products for patients suffering catastrophic haemorrhage
Specialist equipment for children and babies
And much more

And did you know that once the sun sets, our helicopter is put away and our crew respond to call-outs only in the critical care cars? We can fly in the dark, but we can only land in surveyed landing sites e.g. a hospital helipad, or back at our airbase. We can only land in an unsurveyed site (usually the scene of an incident) in daylight – this is so that the Pilot and crew can safely see any dangers that might affect their landing, such as telephone wires or livestock.

View from inside the open door of GWAAC's helicopter looking out onto the airfield, where two green and yellow Great Western Air Ambulance Charity critical care cars are parked side-by-side.

Designed for the job

Our new cars have been specially fitted and prepared for the demands of emergency response work and offer several important improvements on our previous fleet:

Features that are designed specifically for emergency work, such as a slide-out tray in the boot, making it easier for our crew to access heavy medical equipment and kit bags
Larger boot space, helping us accommodate our increasing range of specialist equipment
A more spacious interior for our crew, medical equipment, bags and personal protective equipment (PPE)

The XC90s are also hybrid vehicles, helping us move away from diesel and towards a more sustainable fleet.

A GWAAC crew member unloading a blue medical equipment bag from the boot of a new XC90.

Our Critical Care Team unloading medical equipment from one of the new XC90s

Three in four of our call-outs are responded to by car

You might assume that our helicopter is the quickest way for us to reach a patient, but that isn't always the case. Our airbase is well positioned just outside Bristol in South Gloucestershire and close to two major motorways, meaning it can often be quicker for our crew to travel by road than by air.

In dense urban environments, or when weather conditions prevent our helicopter from flying, our cars provide the fastest way to get a Critical Care Doctor and Advanced or Specialist Paramedic in Critical Care (SPCC) to the patient's side.

Having reliable, purpose-built vehicles is therefore essential to our ability to continue providing critical care across our region.

Two Great Western Air Ambulance Charity crew members in orange suits standing in front of three high-visibility Volvo critical care cars on a helipad, with the bright green and blue air ambulance helicopter hovering in the sky directly above them.

Ready for the road: Three new critical care cars

A closer look at our new cars

Here are some of the key specifications of our new fleet:

Make and model: Volvo XC90 hybrid
Fleet size: Three emergency-ready critical care cars as standard. We also have a fourth vehicle, which is also a Volvo XC90, which rotates alongside our main fleet to help ensure consistent coverage.
Off-road capability: All-Wheel Drive performance
Medical crew: A Critical Care Doctor, two SPCCs and a Trainee
On-board kit: Blood products and kit bags containing vital equipment to deal with incidents ranging from serious head injuries and cardiac arrests to road traffic collisions
Sirens: A Rumbler siren, designed to help alert other road users by allowing them to feel the low-frequency sound as well as hear it
Operational hours: 07:00 to 01:00, 365 days a year (our helicopter operates from 07:00 to 19:00 during the summer period).

You may see our new critical care cars out and about across our region. They will be easy to recognise thanks to our familiar charity logo and electric blue trace line. If you spot one at an event, please do come and have a look inside and chat with our crew.

Interior driver's perspective inside a Great Western Air Ambulance Charity critical care car, showing the Volvo steering wheel, digital dashboard map navigation display, communications radio, and emergency light controller.

Close-up of a black emergency light control box mounted on the dashboard of a Great Western Air Ambulance Charity critical care car, featuring labelled buttons for sirens, alley lights, and emergency beacons.

We responded to 74% of missions by car in a record breaking 2025 — click here to learn more about our busiest year on record

Thank you to Adam Davis Photography for capturing some of the amazing photos in this post.