Fire chiefs have named the worst offenders in the false alarm league.

East Sussex fire brigade wants to cut the number of wasted call-outs caused by automatic fire alarms going off in error.

Top of the list is Metropole Hotel, Brighton, where automatic alarms went off 95 times in a year.

It is followed by the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, and the University of Sussex, Falmer, both with 94.

Eastbourne District General Hospital is third at 72, Brighton General Hospital fourth with 67 and the University of Brighton fifth with 50.

Ticehurst House Hospital, Ticehurst, had 33 false alarms and the Churchill Square shopping centre, in Brighton, 31.

East Sussex Fire Authority says false alarms waste valuable time and put their staff at risk when they rush to a scene only to find they are not needed.

East Sussex Chief Fire Officer Alan McCormack said: "More and more people are installing fire detectors and we welcome this development.

"However, the current levels of unwanted signals from these systems places a huge burden on us in terms of cost and disruption."

Between April 1999 and March 2000 the brigade attended 5,448 false alarms out of 13,812 incidents - or 40 per cent of the brigade's call-outs.

Barbara Matheson, Metropole deputy general manager, said the hotel was spending £1.8 million on improving fire services.

Ian Keeber, a spokesman for the Royal Sussex, said: "Reducing false alarms is important to us and we constantly try to minimise incidents."

False alarms can be caused by building work, fumes from cooking and surges in the electrical supply during thunderstorms.