A STUDENT has driven an ambulance to Mongolia to donate it to a hospital.

During the 8,500 mile trip, Juliet Waud spent six hours in a Kazakh jail over an immigration mix-up, broke down in Poland, and drove through a landscape so dry it is known as the Valley of Death.

She was taking part in the 49-day Go Ahead Mongolian Rally with university friend Alice Paisley, raising money for Save The Children by crossing 13 countries before delivering the ambulance to the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator.

The 23-year-old business school student, from Sires Hill, North Moreton, near Didcot, said: “We had to drive a vehicle that would be useful to the Mongolians, so we were donated an old ambulance by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. Now it’s at a local hospital in Mongolia being used as an ambulance again.”

“We took a stretcher as well, and now apart from the lights and sirens, it is fully functional.”

Fifty teams took part in the rally, driving pick-ups, white vans, and trucks that could be passed on to charities.