An investigation is underway after a fatally injured man was taken to hospital in the back of a fire engine.

Stephen Muir, 32, was taken to hospital after he was attacked in a town centre in Nottinghamshire.

The East Midlands Ambulance service says the sheer number of 999 calls may have caused the delay.

Mr Muir, who had two small children, died four days after he was attacked in Worksop on the way home from a night out.

Head injuries

A fire crew came across the police at the scene and asked if they needed any help.

The police had radioed for an ambulance but one had not turned up.

The fire crew, who were medically trained, put Mr Muir on a stretcher in the back of the fire engine and took him to Bassetlaw District Hospital.

Twenty percent of the 999 calls from the public are for very minor and trivial reasons

Phil Morris East Midlands Ambulance Service

The ambulance service says it was very busy on the night Mr Muir died, but stresses that its crews can be delayed from attending real emergencies because so many other 999 calls are unnecessary.

"We have to achieve 75% of responses to category-A life-threatening calls within eight minutes and thanks to the hard work of staff we are doing that," said Phil Morris of East Midlands Ambulance Service.

"One of the problems is that 20% of the 999 calls from the public are for very minor and trivial reasons.

"People have to think twice before dialling 999."

At an inquest held in Nottingham on Thursday, it was revealed that Stephen Muir died from head injuries.

Two men have been charged with his murder and another with assault causing actual bodily harm.