Bristol Ambulance EMS has collapsed into administration, weeks after being served a winding-up petition over an unpaid tax bill.<\/p>\n
The Bristol-headquartered business employs around 550 people across the South West providing emergency and routine medical care and transport for the NHS and private healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
The business has been under significant financial pressure in recent months, despite paying shareholders \u00a31.4m in dividends last year.<\/p>\n
Last week director Shaun Pillinger was reported to have told staff in a memo that “all critical financial commitments, including wages” were fully supported through to the end of May.<\/p>\n
The accounts for the year to July 2025, which were only signed off three weeks ago, highlighted a \u00a31m tax debt and “an ongoing dispute with HMRC” about the treatment of VAT on patient transport services.<\/p>\n
Pillinger also warned “that ongoing increases in taxation and continued financial pressures on the NHS, including budget constraints, introduce a level of uncertainty to the company’s future trading environment”.<\/p>\n
By that stage HMRC, joined by Blue Light Services Specialist Vehicles, had lodged a winding-up petition.<\/p>\n
Bristol Ambulance EMS was founded in 1972 but its real growth has come in the last decade, when turnover has increased from around \u00a31m to more than \u00a330m. It now operates from its Bristol headquarters and satellite stations across the South West in Keynsham, Weston-Super-Mare, Swindon, Bridgwater, Exeter, Poole and Falmouth.<\/p>\n
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Exclusive: Tax dispute with HMRC had increased financial pressures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":40883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-40880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-bristol-and-bath","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n