The ambulance service today denied it is putting lives at risk by failing to staff its emergency vehicles with paramedics.

In Glasgow and Lanarkshire, around 80% of Rapid Response Vehicles are crewed by paramedics, with the remainder staffed by technicians.

Concerns have been raised over a call-out last March when a man collapsed at a wedding in Glasgow.

The heart attack victim was not attended to by a paramedic at the scene and later died.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said today an investigation had found the patient's treatment would have been no different had a paramedic been on board.

Technicians are highly skilled medical professionals, a spokesman said.

He said: "In a climate of ever increasing demand, it would be a disservice to the public to leave RRVs unused in the station when they can be operated by a technician who has all the skills to save lives.

"Better to have an ambulance technician respond in eight minutes in an RRV than leave the patient to wait longer for a paramedic."

The service said that it had trained around 700 paramedics over the last five years - "probably more than any other ambulance service in the UK".

In Glasgow and Lanarkshire, the number of RRVs crewed by paramedics is expected to rise to 100% by the end of the year as more staff complete paramedic training, the spokesman said.