EMERGENCY services paid tribute to a long-serving motorcycle paramedic known for his training registration number 007.

Ray Saunders died last month aged just 68.

The grandfather-of-three spent 43 years helping the town’s residents in their time of need, serving as a paramedic with Wiltshire and South Western ambulance services.

And on Friday morning, dozens of firefighters and ambulance staff lined Queen’s Drive outside Swindon Ambulance Station, as a procession carried Ray’s coffin to Kingsdown Crematorium.

The funeral cortege included two vintage ambulances, while two paramedic motorcycle outriders riding on blue lights ensured the procession arrived at Ray’s funeral safely.

Paying tribute to his father, Paul Saunders, 42, said: "There won’t be many people who don’t know of him in the ambulance service. There are so many stories of his time in the service and there seems to such a warmth of affection for him that it’s been really quite overwhelming.

“The ambulance service in Swindon was like a family when we were growing up. We’d have Christmas parties at the ambulance station and for my 18th birthday most the ambulance service from Swindon were there.

“If you’d cut him in half it would have said Wiltshire Ambulance Service right through the middle.”

He thanked Ray’s former colleagues for the procession: “People just can’t seem to do enough for him. He would have been embarrassed by it all, but secretly he would have loved it. He would thought it was a load of fuss but he would definitely have had a smile on his face.”

Ray joined Wiltshire Ambulance Service in February 1976, initially conveying people to hospital appointments as a member of the patient transport services. After training in Bishop Waltham, Ray went on to become an instructor, teaching hundreds of staff in ambulance aid.

Former colleague Helen Eggleton, an operations officer with South Western Ambulance Service, said: “When paramedic training began, Ray was at the front and on qualifying his registration was 007, which became the subject of many jokes.”

She added on behalf of the service: “Ray was an exceptional paramedic and instructor. He had a great sense of humour and was a pleasure to work. He always lost his keys, and he excelled in cooking a fried breakfast. Ray will be sadly missed by all who knew him.”

Three fire appliances joined paramedics yesterday. Sam Legg-Bagg, station manager at Swindon Fire Station, said: "We’re here to support our colleagues at this difficult time. We appreciate the commitment Ray showed to the service. We would all have worked with him on a number of occasions.”