AMBULANCE crews experienced one of their busiest ever days on Sunday.

Call numbers were double what they would usually be with West Midlands Ambulance Service crews taking 3,385 calls.

Across the week the trust received 22,952 emergency 999 calls, a rise of 12.2 per cent over the same week in 2013.

Assistant chief ambulance officer, Steve Wheaton, said: “While the total numbers of calls over the weekend may not have been as high as we feared, there is absolutely no doubt that people went out partying on Friday and Saturday nights.

“On Friday, demand was significantly up from about midnight through until 2am, but Sunday was a whole different story. Demand got going at around 10pm and then increased massively through the early hours. It wasn’t until about 6am on Sunday morning that call numbers returned to normal. Between 3am and 4am, demand was double what we would normally expect on a Saturday night.”

With only days to go until Christmas, the trust is also urging people to make final preparations to keep themselves healthy over the festive period by stocking up on medicine, plasters and any repeat prescriptions that may be needed.