A pivotal service that saves lives has revealed it is facing increased daily running costs.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) charity says it needs an extra £2,790 a day to further improve its service and save more lives.

The increase takes the daily running cost up to £9,990 – equivalent to £3.6million a year.

The rise in operational costs comes as the charity strives to implement further service improvements.

Peter Sunderland, YAA chairman, said: “We have not been immune to the challenging economic environment over the last few years and as a result, are seeing a major impact on our running costs.

“These are mainly increasing operational costs – primarily fuel, premises, maintenance and other on-costs associated with operating two very large helicopters.”