A fire engine on its way to an emergency in Oxford was forced to do a U-turn because lorries delivering an operating theatre to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre had blocked Windmill Road in Headington.

Residents were woken on June 21 by lorries delivering sections of the temporary operating theatre.

They complained that traffic was brought to a standstill in Windmill Road and that the fire engine had been forced to turn back in nearby St Anne's Road because of the parked lorries.

Hospital managers said residents had been warned in advance of the delivery of the operating theatre, which is being installed to help speed up surgery and cut patient waiting lists.

One of Europe's biggest cranes, with a lifting capacity of 500 tonnes, was also brought to the hospital to lift sections of the operating theatre into place.

NOC spokesman Alison Barnes said: "We made sure to inform our neighbours in advance and did everything possible to minimise disruption to traffic flow, our neighbours and staff."

The fire engine was on its way from The Slade fire station to a blaze in Arlington Drive, Marston, at 3.30pm.

Controllers called out another crew, from Rewley Road, to the blaze, which had started in some bushes.