Your ambulance service needs you - that is the message emergency services want to get over to drinkers this Christmas as overworked paramedics struggle to keep up.

London Ambulance Service bosses begged drinkers to line their stomachs and plan a route home to keep themselves safe over the holidays.

They said alcohol-related incidents were the most common cause of calls for paramedics among 21- to 30-year-olds.

The under-fire trust has struggled to meet government targets for emergency response times and was recently placed in special measures.

Along with the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade, it hopes to forestall thousands of call-outs with a media campaign.

Chief executive Dr Fionna Moore said: "We want Londoners to have a good time during the party season, but we also want them to be safe.

"The wellbeing of the people of London is at the heart of everything the emergency services do."

According to statistics, there have been 335 accidental alcohol-related fires so far this year, and more than half of the people who died in accidental fires last year had alcohol in their blood.

Fire chiefs have previously advised sozzled partygoers to buy a kebab instead of cooking once they get home.

Commander Simon Letchford, from the Metropolitan Police, said: "Misuse of alcohol can result in disorder and anti-social behaviour that causes a strain on emergency services and diverts them from priority calls.

"Individuals can also make themselves vulnerable, putting themselves - and others - at greater risk of injury, as well as increasing their chance of falling victim to crimes."