Ambulance crews in Oxfordshire are spending so much time treating alcohol-related injuries that a leading paramedic last nightcalled for a ban on pub happy hours.

In the past year, more than 10,000 patients — or 10 per cent of all emergency calls — needed treatment for injuries sustained while they were drunk.

Paul Cooke the operations manager at South Central Ambulance Service for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, said he was so concerned with the situation he had called for pub and club drink promotions to be banned — and curbs placed on extended opening hours.

He said some patients involved in road crashes or suffering heart attacks were being forced to wait for ambulances because crews were held up dealing with drink-related injuries.

Between June 2007 and July this year, crews dealt with 315 patients injured in drunken assaults, 5,197 who had fallen over while drunk, 2,497 found unconscious and 1,614 people who were severely wounded while drunk and needed surgery.

A further 1,010 patients were treated for drug overdoses.

Mr Cooke said: "There are times when, because we are dealing with inappropriate calls, other patients may be suffering. Sometimes patients have been made to wait.

"There are cases — especially at weekends — when a single responder will be there within seven or eight minutes, but have to wait for an ambulance to come back from A&E dealing with an inappropriate call or drunk.

"If people were more responsible, we would be able to use our crews more effectively for the appropriate calls."

Mr Cook said the number of people needing treatment for drunken injuries had increased since the Government introduced extended opening hours three years ago.

He added: "There is a culture, especially in young people, that they are just going to go out and get slammed.

"We are not a taxi service for these people, but some do get to the point where they have to be transported to hospital and this is very irresponsible.

"Some people do care and are apologetic, but you get the few who say 'I pay my taxes and you have to send me an ambulance'.

"Some pubs and clubs with happy hours are just pouring fuel on top of the fire. I would like to see a ban on all happy hours.

"Before extended opening hours, we knew the closing times and could deal with it, but now it is spread out, which causes problems.

"It was easier because we knew the peak times and it was predictable — we would like to return to those days."

Oxfordshire crime manager DCI Chris Sharp backed Mr Cooke's call to stop drink promotions.

Ambulance crews must answer emergency calls and do not judge the merits based on whether the patient is drunk.

Below are examples of recent drunken injuries described by paramedics as "avoidable or irresponsible".

A drunk man scalded his face trying to drink from a recently boiled kettle A drunk was impaled through the groin attempting to climb into his house after losing his keys A homeless man was run over and killed when he passed out in the middle of Banbury Road, Oxford, while drunk An injured motorist on the M40 was so drunk he could not stand up A man suffered spinal injuries using a trampoline after drinking too much A 13-year-old boy was found unconscious after drinking a bottle of vodka in an Oxford park.

Police have flooded Oxford city centre and East Oxford with extra officers in an effort to combat an explosion in drink-fuelled violence.

Earlier this year, city police met officers from Blackpool, Cardiff and Brighton to borrow ideas on how to tackle drink-related offences.

Initiatives include taxi marshals to prevent punch-ups in the queues and officers patrolling inside pubs and clubs.

Oxford City Council runs a city centre saturation policy zone, effectively prohibiting new bars.

Last year, George Street was labelled "vomit alley" due to binge-drinking problems in a report by Oxford University college head Lord Krebs, of Jesus College