CRASH victims had to be taken to hospital in a fire engine because no ambulances were available.

Firefighters cut a male driver and two 25-year-old female passengers out of a taxi after it skidded on ice, flipped and rolled into a field outside Stanley House in Preston New Road, Mellor, at 2.30am on Saturday.

Suspecting one woman needed hospital treatment for her injuries, crews called for an ambulance, but were told none were available.

Blackburn fire crew manager Stephen Horrocks said the situation “could have been much more serious”.

He said: “One of the women had suspected fractured ribs and it was a cold night, so it wasn’t pleasant lying on the floor.

“We phoned for an ambulance and must have waited for 15 minutes before wondering when it was going to turn up.

“Then we phoned through to our mobilising team to ask where the ambulance was, and they were told that none were available.

“That’s when we decided to take them to hospital ourselves in the back of the appliance.”

In Lancashire, there were 1,862, 999 calls between 6pm on Friday and 6am on Saturday — up 50 per cent on the usual 1,200 calls. Ambulance service staff said the number of call-outs was up on the same period last year.

The period is traditionally known as ‘Mad Friday’ because of the number of people who go out to celebrate Christmas.

Mr Horrocks said: “I know it was ‘Mad Friday’ and the ambulance service was busy, but there was potential for this incident to have been much worse.

Firefighters do have some first-aid training, but nothing like at the level paramedics work on.”

Firefighters gave one woman oxygen at the scene.

A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service said: “As anticipated the ambulance service received a high number of 999 calls throughout the region between the hours of 6pm on Friday, December 16, and 6am on Saturday, December 17.

“Across the counties of Cumbria and Lancashire, there was a peak in demand for our services between 1am and 4am on Saturday morning, where we dealt with 97 calls across the three hours.

“At the time of this incident all ambulance crews were busy attending serious and life threatening calls and an ambulance was sent as soon as it became available.”

Earlier this week former dinner lady Sylvia Bower, 76, slammed ambulance response times after she was left 45 minutes after falling in icy conditions.

Neighbours in Peronne Crescent, Blackburn, covered the Mrs Bower with blankets as she lay on a cold, wet street.