If we find ourselves stricken with a sudden, serious illness or badly injured in an accident, we have every right to expect an ambulance to arrive promptly to enable treatment to be given as soon as possible. Unfortunately that cannot always happen, sometimes because the available ambulances are all tied up dealing with equally serious situations but unfortunately all too often because they have been called out to incidents which don't merit a request to the emergency services.

If more people used their common sense or behaved less selfishly, West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service (WYMAS) would not have had to launch their campaign aimed at reducing the inappropriate use of emergency ambulances. However, given the scale of the problem it seems that this campaign is very necessary.

It is quite staggering - and, indeed, shameful - that about a quarter of the 999 calls for ambulances each year do not require an emergency response. Apparently people are calling for one for all manner of minor reasons, including toothache, in the hope that if they arrive at hospital by ambulance they will be able to jump the queue. Others see it as an alternative to visiting their GP or local pharmacy or calling NHS Direct for advice.

As a WYMAS spokesman points out today, while ambulance crews are dealing with calls of this type they are not able to get to the life-threatening emergencies. Lives of other patients are consequently being put at risk.

With the Christmas season fast approaching, the genuine demands on the ambulance service are bound to increase. The last thing it needs are selfish time-wasters tying up resources unnecessarily.