More than 90 vehicles a month are torched by vandals on Sussex streets.

Statistics from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister disclose the extent of attacks on cars, vans and motorbikes which keep firefighters from tackling real emergencies.

The figures show 8,349 vehicles were deliberately set alight between May 1997 and September 2004 - a rate of 94 a month.

Of those 5,241 were in East Sussex and 3,108 in West Sussex.

Lives are put at risk each time the fire and rescue service is called to a blazing abandoned vehicle because firefighters are not at the station to respond if a 999 call comes.

It costs the public at least £300 each time a crew is called out on an emergency.

East Sussex's total is 25th and West Sussex 36th out of England's 47 fire brigades.

Greater Manchester is the country's arson hot spot, dealing with 39,072 attacks on vehicles, or 439 a month.

The figures were revealed by Fire Service Minister Phil Woolas in a Parliamentary written answer.

Last November, the government launched a crackdown aimed at clearing abandoned cars from Britain's streets because councils say they act as a magnet for crime, antisocial behaviour and arson.

The drive, called Operation Crackdown, aims to cut dumped cars by 25 per cent by 2008 and gives councils more powers to fine offenders and seize cars causing a nuisance.

Police Sergeant Gary Keating, of the Arson Reduction Team for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The Arson Reduction Team is a new service dedicated to dealing with deliberate fires and covers the whole of East Sussex and Brighton and Hove.

"We have four people in the team as well as a sniffer dog that can smell if an accelerant like petrol was used to start a fire.

"We have been working with Operation Crackdown, which started in 2002, and we have seen a steady decline of arson on cars.

"More cars are being taken off the roads and we have made arrests. It's had a massive impact on the reduction of deliberate fires and we are trying to keep that momentum going.

"The Arson Reduction Team means we are now being more proactive. It's not just about preventing the criminal damage and the fires. Another issue is that it brings the community down. If there is an abandoned car, then eventually someone will steal the wheels, the windows will be broken and it is a blight on the community.

"This also stops firefighters doing their job and people's lives are being put in jeopardy."

Some 300,000 cars are abandoned every year, costing local authorities £26 million to remove them and trace their owners.

The Government says the problem has increased sharply in the past five years and is projected to keep rising.

The growing problem is thought to be fuelled by the rise in car ownership and a drop in the value of scrap metal.

But Sergeant Simon Payne, of the Arson Task Force for the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We probably get about 20 or 30 torched cars a month, which isn't that many.

"We are running on about a 30 per cent reduction on car fires this year compared with last year which is more than we ever thought we would reach.

"Operation Crackdown is so successful we are getting abandoned cars off the road more quickly which means there are fewer set on fire.

"It costs about £300 or £350 every time the fire service has to go out on a call by the time the engine has gone out with a crew, so this is a waste of tax-payers' money.

"It also increases the chance of a road traffic accident and people being injured or killed because every time you have a blue-light run the driver only has to make a mistake and it could cause an accident.

"Not only does arson waste public money but it prevents us dealing with a real emergency such as a house fire or an accident. Time is people's lives."