For, the last time ambulance staff – paramedics, control room staff and their support teams – walked out on strike it was 1989 and Margaret Thatcherwas the Prime Minister when workers felt then, as they feel now, that their pay is going backwards whilst at the same time the work they are being asked to do has become, over time, increasingly difficult.

Consequently, the world-class emergency response care that people in this country are lucky enough to enjoy was not there for us yesterday, at least not unless there was a serious risk to life.

Unless a compromise on pay and conditions can be found quickly, it seems that service will be absent on come days in the weeks and months ahead.

Despite what some factions of the media would have you believe, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who has a bad word to say about paramedics and ambulance crews.

In recent years their remit has burgeoned stealthily, all the while the willing carers picking up slack in the community and social care sectors, all the while adding to their emergency care responsibilities.

Yet these people are not the only group workers striking this winter, the list is a concerning one: nurses, rail workers, highways, Royal Mail, border security, driving instructors, bus workers.

From public health to public transport, all compromised because those who do the work feel their lives at work and at home are getting worse, not better. It is not just in the interest of the ambulance crews, the NHS and patients to get a deal done, but in the national interest.

Government should reward our world class emergency carers - The Yorkshire Post says