TEN of the 19 ambulances that were taken off the road because they were operating over their weight limit are now back in use.

The 19 were taken out of service by the Great Western Ambulance Service three weeks ago.

Trust spokeswoman Victoria Eld said ten of the 19 ambulances came back into use on Friday after the front suspension on the vehicles was modified.

The modification means the front axle capacity of the ambulances has increased from 1850kg to 2000kg and as a result the gross vehicle weight has been recategorised at 3.9 tonnes, from 3.5 tonnes.

The remaining nine ambulances will have the same work done on them and Ms Eld said they would be back on the road by the middle of January.

Following this a further seven ambulances which were also found to have excess weight on the front axle will have their front suspensions altered to comply with the higher weight limit.

These seven vehicles are still in use in Wiltshire but with restrictions.

These are that family members of patients are banned from travelling with their loved one in an ambulance except where the patient is aged 12 or under and does not weigh in excess of 40kg.

Also the ambulances cannot carry surplus medical equipment and the fuel tank can only be filled up to three quarters of its capacity.

The ambulance service drafted in 23 spare ambulances from other parts of the country.

Seven ambulances have returned to London and 16 ambulances from Wales will go back once all 19 ambulances are back on the road in January.

The Great Western Ambulance Service is not paying for the use of these ambulances.

The service only realised there was a problem with its ambulances when it was alerted following testing of ambulances by another ambulance trust.

The majority of the ambulances had been in use in Wiltshire for up to five years.

Dominic Morgan, secretary of Wiltshire Ambulance Service Union, said: "We haven't seen a major problem with the ambulances that are being used with restrictions. All the staff are doing their best to make sure that the service they provide is the best as possible."