A DRINK-DRIVER who stole an ambulance from the scene of an emergency was spared jail yesterday.

Unemployed Lawrence Jameson took the ambulance from a street as two paramedics were treating a woman for an asthma attack.

Jameson, who was twice over the drink-drive limit, got behind the wheel of the ambulance in the early hours of December 13, 2003, to drive home.

With two paramedics in pursuit, he only made it a short distance down the road in North Shields, North Tyneside, before he was caught.

A breath test showed Jameson, who had drunk six pints of lager, had a reading of 84mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Jameson. 39, of previous good character, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle-taking, driving with excess alcohol and having no insurance, at a hearing in November.

At Newcastle Crown Court, Paul Caulfield, in mitigation, said: "He simply cannot understand how it came to be that he involved himself in this."

Judge Beatrice Bolton told Jameson that she could not dismiss the possibility his drinks had been spiked.

Jameson, of Lannerwood, Howdon Road, North Shields, was sentenced to carry out 200 hours of community service and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.