What could have been a critical life saving flight by the local air ambulance had to be aborted when someone used a laser to blind the crew as they came in to land in Victoria Park in Frome.

The air ambulance, from Wiltshire had been on night training manoeuvres on November 25.

Many town residents remarked on the circling helicopter that night - and how it looked 'lost'. It was in fact trying to land in the park, but as it came down the pilot had a laser light from the ground shone into the cabin.

They were forced to abort the flight.

The Wiltshire Air Ambulance team put out a warning yesterday on social media, explaining what had happened and sadly putting Frome on the map as the first place this year this has happened.

In 2020 the crews were hit with lasers on four separate occasions. The most recent was on 6 September 2020 when the aircrew were subjected to a laser attack when attempting to land in Trowbridge.

A reply on that social media post said: " You are not alone - this needs to be made into something on a higher level - stop it, and stop it quickly before someone is hurt....or worse? "

Shining a high density light into an aircraft is a criminal offence.

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The air ambulance was out on Sunday - it airlifted a medical emergency, to Southmead Hospital from Westbury.

A spokes person for the air ambulance service told Nub News on November 30: "We can confirm the aircrew are all fine after the incident."