AMBULANCE chiefs saw a surge in call-outs after last week’s England game against the USA.

The South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) Emergency Operations Centre in Bicester took 118 emergency calls between 10pm on Saturday, June 12, and 2am on Sunday, June 13.

There were only 75 call-outs in the same period the week before.

James Keating-Wilkes, SCAS spokesman, said that during the four hours, staff attended 29 assaults, 10 alcohol overdoses, seven people who were rendered unconscious through excessive drinking and three other calls to incidents where alcohol was a major factor.

John Nichols, SCAS divisional director for Oxfordshire, added: “There is a link between major sporting occasions and, alas, excessive drinking which, in turn, results in an increase in alcohol-related calls to the ambulance service.”