Ambulance driver 'must stand trial'

Mr Ferguson is being supported by thousands of well-wishers

The government has said it will not stop an ambulance driver being prosecuted for speeding.

Mike Ferguson, from Birkenshaw near Bradford, was caught by a speed camera allegedly travelling at 104mph on the A1 in Lincolnshire while delivering a liver for a transplant.

Mr Ferguson's MP wrote to Home Secretary David Blunkett requesting that Lincolnshire Police drop the case.

But Mr Blunkett has said he will not intervene on the driver's behalf and the case must proceed through the courts.

At a hearing at Grantham Magistrates' Court in June, Mr Ferguson indicated he would be pleading not guilty.

A trial date was set for 20 October.

The 56-year-old driver with West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service was driving to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge on 16 January when he was photographed.

If convicted Mr Ferguson could lose his job.

Since charges were brought Mr Ferguson's union has collected more than 6,000 signatures on a petition in support of him in addition to thousands of messages from well-wishes around the world.