An ambulance boss sent a paramedic on a 100-mile round trip to pick up his forgotten passport.

Dr David Janes ordered an on-call emergency response car to collect the document from his home in Seaford and deliver it to Gatwick airport, where he was waiting to board a flight to Africa with six colleagues.

The 999-equipped Vauxhall Vectra took three hours and 15 minutes to complete the trip.

Married father-of-three Dr Janes received a fierce telling-off from ambulance chief executive David Griffiths on his return to Sussex.

The doctor will not be disciplined but the father-of-three admitted making a poor decision.

He told The Argus: "In hindsight this was not the best decision.

"But I can confirm that at no time was our cover for patients in Sussex affected.

"I regret the publicity this has caused and am disappointed that this detracts from the excellent, life-saving work we do in the Gambia.

"I am completely dedicated to patient care and this decision was made to allow me to support our staff team and continue this important work."

Janine Bell, of Sussex Ambulance Service, said: "The chief executive is happy there was no misuse of vehicles but with hindsight this was not the best decision in the world.

"The car would have been available for response to an emergency call in the normal way. If an emergency had come in Dr Janes would not have got his passport.

"He was on Sussex Ambulance Service business and was not just going on holiday."

Paramedic staff were angered by the fact an emergency vehicle was used for an ad hoc courier service.

A union member, who did not want to be named, said: "I've spoken to colleagues and the general opinion is this is disgusting. How you can use a paramedic resource which is needed to save lives as a courier service is beyond me."

He said the service was struggling to meet Government targets of reaching top-grade emergencies in less than eight minutes.

The cars were brought in alongside ambulances to help speed up response times.

Medical director Dr Janes was with six colleagues due to fly out to Africa on the morning of April 20 when he realised his passport was at home.

The team was travelling to Gambia to help train ambulance crews in a project run by Sussex Ambulance Service.

The project would have been called off if Dr Janes had been unable to travel. Sussex Ambulance insists the car did not use blue lights and sirens and drove under normal conditions.

Dr Janes works for the ambulance service after being promoted from a GP surgery in Eastbourne.

He also volunteers for the Sussex and Surrey Immediate Medical Care Scheme (Simcas), helping paramedics at the scene of accidents in his spare time.