Paramedics had to abandon their ambulance during an emergency call after it caught fire.

The crew of three were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation following yesterday's incident but they were not seriously injured.

The one male and two female paramedics were driving to a medical emergency in Lewes at about 3.40pm when the ambulance's brakes caught fire on Evelyn Road.

After they raised the alarm another ambulance was dispatched to cover for the stricken vehicle.

Firefighters from Lewes were called and quickly doused the flames.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Ambulance Service said: "This was a very unusual occurrence which has never happened in any of our vehicles before. We will be investigating the causes of the fire."