Blue Lights and Long Nights

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Card-playing corpses, unfaithful husbands and 'flying' ladies – life as an ambulance driver in the 1970s was certainly varied … At the age of twenty-three, Les Pringle decided to escape from office life, broaden his horizons and become an ambulance driver. Little did he realize how broad those horizons would turn out to be. Filled with warmth and humour, Blue Lights and Long Nights takes us back to a time when lonely old ladies could call 999 and have a cup of tea waiting when the drivers turned up for a chat; when learning to drive the ambulance meant going out for one test drive and managing not to hit a pedestrian; and every day brought a glimpse into other people's lives. Gripping, poignant and darkly funny, Blue Lights and Long Nights is an affectionate, warm-hearted look at a world gone by.

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Although born in Easington County Durham, Les Pringle spent his first eight years in Ratho, south-west of Edinburgh. His father’s subsequent career moves led Les and his family on a whistle-stop tour of England before eventually settling in Birmingham when Les was in his mid-teens. He joined Birmingham’s Metropolitan Ambulance Service in 1977 for little more reason than it seemed a good idea at the time. That good idea led to three, unbroken decades of round the clock emergency work. He is the holder of the Queen's Medal for Long and Exemplary Service. Les has two children and still lives in Birmingham with his wife, Marie-Madeleine.