EMERGENCY services around the North-East last night remained confident that they could see through the fuel crisis without an adverse effect on patients.

There was concern that fire engines, police cars and ambulances would run out of fuel as a result of the crisis. But those fears were allayed by the emergency services.

Alan Wray, a spokesman for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue, said: "We have adequate stocks of fuels, and we are monitoring the situation. We also have contingency plans and we can have fuels supplied direct to us.

"Our only problem would be getting people into work. We would have lots of fuel for the engines, but no one to work them. But the public can rest assured we will get our staff into our stations."

Ambulance and police services also reassured the public their services were running normally.

A spokeswoman for North-East Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: "We hopefully will be receiving our fuel order tomorrow, which is a large one.

"Although the only non-emergency trips our vehicles are taking are only for high priority, such as cancer treatment, dialysis and fracture patients, accident and emergency calls are running as normal."

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: "At present, the police, fire and ambulance services are confident they have adequate supplies of fuel and they will be able to secure sufficient supplies in the immediate future."