JUST occasionally a story comes along which makes us all splutter at the injustice of life and the imbecility of those in authority.

Ambulanceman Mike Ferguson was travelling at 104mph as he raced to deliver an organ for transplant. He was in an official vehicle with blue lights flashing but still he was charged with speeding.

Just why the Crown Prosecution Service chooses to prosecute an ambulance driver for trying to save a life will be one of those mysteries we can never fathom. Quite rightly there is outrage and one has to hope that the magistrates will have the good sense to throw the case out.

However, it does mask a more general problem. There are more people requiring organs than donors and, as time is of the essence when one becomes available, there is a mad dash to deliver organ to the patient - hence Mr Ferguson's untimely prosecution.

Currently donors have to make a physical effort to register with the transplant service declaring that they are willing to donate their organs after death. They carry a card, intended to smooth the process.

How much more sensible it would be to make it an opt out rather than an opt in system. The presumption would be that organs can be used in the event of death, unless expressly forbidden by the individual.

Under such a system far more lives would be saved, and people like Mr Ferguson would not face a court summons for their humane actions.