CRITICALLY ill or injured people in North Yorkshire are set to benefit as the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) opens a new operational base in the area.

A new satellite station will be operated from Bagby Airfield, near Thirsk, and will allow an air ambulance to be based and refuel in North Yorkshire during known busy periods.

Bagby Airfield has offered the facility to the YAA free of charge and means that more remote areas of North Yorkshire will be easier to reach.

At the moment the two air ambulances operate from permanent bases at Leeds-Bradford Airport and Sheffield Business Park and cover the whole of Yorkshire.

Peter Sunderland, chairman of the YAA, said: "The charity are delighted with their new facilities at Bagby airfield.

"This new bases allows us to be more operationally flexible and available on known busy periods, such as Bank Holidays or major events, allowing quicker response times to incidents in the area."

It costs £7,200 a day to run and maintain the Yorkshire air ambulances and the permanent bases, which adds up to more than £2m a year.

To support the charity and find out more about their work, visit www.yaa.org.uk