No ambulance for cost cutting Town

The ambulance and paramedics are usually situated in the open corner between the Main and Pontoon stands. However their presence won't be felt for the majority of games this season.

Football League rules state that an ambulance is only required for gates over 5,000. With the club anticipating the majority of games to dip under this deadline, they will not hire the vehicle and staff unless required to.

The move will save the club £360 a game, but will surely will raise questions about how important the safety of the players and fans is.

Last season Steve Livingstone required emergency treatment on the field after his head injury that left him with a fractured skull. The season before Jonny Rowan required the treatment of the paramedics after a head injury against Sheffield United. Not to mention the broken leg suffered by Martin Pringle and numerous other injuries sustained on the field.

Club accounts manager Steve Wraith defended the decision when speaking to the Grimsby Telegraph.

"We only need an ambulance for crowds over 5,000," he told the newspaper.

"It would have cost us over £1,000 for Bank Holiday Monday because we would have had to pay treble time.

"If the gate is above 5,000 you have to get one, but there are St John Ambulance people and there is a defibrillator and other emergency equipment underneath the Pontoon Stand."

Lincolnshire Ambulance Service spokesman, John Judd, said: "We are in regular negotiations with GTFC about when the gate figure is likely to be more than 5,000, and as soon as they want us to be there at a match, we will be."