EMERGENCY medical couriers who serve Dorset have received the highest award that can be given to volunteer groups in the UK.

Members of Yeovil Freewheelers (YFW) Blood Bikes say they were honoured to receive The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Chairman Andrew Wiley received the award, signed by the Queen, from the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Annie Maw on behalf of the 100-plus volunteers who keep the service operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

He said: “It’s a great honour to accept this award on behalf of the entire group. Every member of our Blood Bikes team is a volunteer and our service is funded entirely by donations. To have our efforts recognised at such a high level is down to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.”

The group, which serves South Somerset and Dorset, is one of the longest continually serving Blood Bike groups in the UK.

Cecil Turner founded the group in 1978 with the specific intention to provide a no-charge emergency courier service to the NHS.

Mr Turner, now 87, was also present at the ceremony at Haselbury Mill near Crewkerne. He gave up riding in 1996 but remains life president of YFW and has seen the group grow from strength to strength over the years.

Today, YFW Blood Bikes make more than 3,500 deliveries – many of them life saving – on behalf of NHS departments every year, clocking up around 15,000 miles a month and saving the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in transportation and delivery costs.

A spokesman for the group said: “While the vast majority of volunteers are qualified advance motorcycle riders, there is also a group of non-riders behind the scenes keeping a careful watch over the ‘back office’ activities that keep the bikes on the road.

“These vary from finance and fund raising to health and safety, maintenance and technology. Whatever their role, everyone is united in their passion for motorbikes and their desire to give something back to their local community.”