GREATER Manchester Ambulance Service is the second best in the country for answering 999 calls.

Figures were recorded for the month of December for all ambulance services in England answering category A emergency 999 calls -- which must be reached within eight minutes.

In Greater Manchester, the ambulance service reached 80.89 per cent of these calls within the eight-minute time limit.

Just ahead with 87.40 per cent was Staffordshire. The lowest was Wiltshire with 51.13 per cent.

December was the busiest month ever for the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service NHS Trust with a 6.47 per cent increase in activity on the year before with 28,300 incidents.

The busiest night of December was New Year's Eve which saw ambulance teams attending 782 incidents between 7pm and 7am on New Year's Day.