CHRISTMAS revellers have been warned to be sensible with their festive drinking and avoid wasting ambulance service time.

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year as people prepare to enjoy work parties or New Year's celebrations.

Alcohol-related incidents in Hammersmith and Fulham already take up a lot of the service's time and they attended 2,110 incidents between March 2009 and April this year.

This is nine per cent of their total workload and in December last year they responded to 165 alcohol-related calls.

Paul Smith, LAS ambulance operations manager, said: "Our priority is to reach patients with life-threatening conditions as quickly as possible to enable us to deliver the highest level of care possible to patients in Hammersmith and Fulham.

"At this time of year we tend to see a rise in alcohol-related calls which is a real concern because it means we have to treat more patients who are simply drunk and that limits our ability to reach people who really need our help.

"People should enjoy themselves over Christmas and New Year, but I'd urge people to be responsible and to think carefully before dialling 999."

The service advise people to eat properly before drinking, keep an eye on friends and plan their journey home.