A private ambulance business has gone bust with the loss of dozens of jobs.

Meditech UK Ambulance Services, which carried non-emergency patients to and from hospitals, blamed “difficult trading conditions” after it fell into administration.

Four people have lost full-time jobs, while another 40 part-time casuals have also been left out of work.

The company, which appointed insolvency practitioners Wilson Field on November 28, moved to Southdown Enterprise Park in Ashford in 2013 after securing a funding package from Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking.

It bought six new vehicles with the cash, taking its total fleet to 18, and expanded to 30 full-time members of staff, with an additional 20 part-time firefighters on their rota.

It was founded in 2010 by firefighters Paul Bleach and Nigel Patton, who had both worked part-time for a London ambulance firm for a number of years before buying their first vehicle for non-emergency patient transportation.

Both Mr Bleach and Patton sold the company to Immaculata Ambulance Service, led by directors James Shepherd and Matthew Staples, in June.

Its services included specialist bariatric transport capable of transporting individuals weighing up to 90 stone.

It also handled medical repatriation from any European country and first aid and medical cover for events.

Kelly Burton, director and insolvency practitioner at Wilson Field said: “Difficult trading conditions had resulted in cash flow problems and as a consequence a number of ambulances had been repossessed.”

Its premises, Unit 5 on Brunswick Road, have been advertised to let for £16,750 a year with Stafford Perkins Chartered Surveyors.