THE county’s ambulance control centre closed on schedule yesterday.

The emergency operations centre at Bransford, near Worcester, closed at 7am yesterday.

All calls for emergencies in Worcestershire and Herefordshire will be handled by the EOC at Brierley Hill, near Dudley in the West Midlands.

The closure follows a long fight by staff, residents and your Worcester News to stop the centre from closing with our ‘Keep it Local’ campaign.

More than 2,000 people signed a petition against the plans which critics argued would lead to a weaker ambulance service because of call handlers based outside our area having less local knowledge.