Sussex ambulance crews are reaching emergency cases quicker than ever.

Sussex Ambulance Service NHS Trust has managed to hit the Government's target for responding to life-threatening calls.

Ambulances have to reach three-quarters of high-priority calls within eight minutes.

Crews reached 76.7 per cent of their 2,152 urgent cases on time throughout January.

Trust chief executive David Griffiths, said: "I am delighted that the service has exceeded this national standard for the first time.

"Attending incidents in less than eight minutes is a real challenge, particularly in bad weather or in heavy traffic."

We revealed at the end of last year that ambulance crews were worried lives would be lost because large parts of the county were left without an ambulance overnight.

All frontline ambulances in Sussex have been fitted with satellite navigation systems to help staff find unfamiliar addresses.

Eighteen of the trust's older vehicles will be replaced by Mercedes Sprinter ambulances during the next two months.