Alarming attacks on London ambulance crews have led the service to step up its campaign against people who assault its staff.

Every day there is at least one attack on a London Ambulance Service member.

LAS has welcomed a four-month prison sentence given to a man who assaulted a Wimbledon and Putney ambulance crew.

Colin Reilly approached the two LAS technicians while they were attending a call in the West Hill area of Wandsworth in March.

He was drunk and verbally abused both of them before trying to strangle the female crew member as she treated a man who had collapsed. The woman, who was a member of the LAS crew for more than nine years, said: I am just glad it is over and there is a result.

Ambulance crews are the frontline of the NHS and are only there to help people in emergency situations. I am now a lot more cautious doing my job.

The LAS said the sentence illustrates that offences against ambulance crews are starting to be taken more seriously.