Fire chiefs have reiterated the need to dial 999 in an emergency after an email reporting a fire was sent to the control room.

Oxfordshire fire and rescue service were called to a garage blaze in Banbury on the evening of Wednesday, May 22.

It was not until the following morning that headquarters admin staff discovered an email reporting the blaze, sent five minutes before the first 999 call was received.

Station manager David Bray, incident commander for the fire, said: “Whilst we live in an age where technology is key and social media forms such a large part of our everyday lives, the only way to alert the fire and rescue service is to dial the known emergency numbers such as 999 or 112 (from a mobile).

“Any emails sent to the general email of the fire and rescue service are not seen by fire control.”