Medical services throughout Keighley have been largely unaffected by this week's fuel crisis thanks to a well-organised pooling of resources.

In a statement issued by Bradford NHS health authority, of which Airedale hospital is a part, a spokesman for the trust says services have been running at a reduced level but adds that managers are confident emergency and other essential services can be maintained for the next few days.

Airedale has been running its full range of services as have the numerous GP surgeries in the area although there has been a reduction in non-urgent home visits.

The area's social services, 999 ambulance services and out-of-hours GP services have been unaffected through a sharing of the reserve stocks of diesel.

Paul Smith, Bradford health authority's director of planning, says: "Because we're looking at services jointly and have agreed how best to protect essential services, this means that we can free up resources for one area to use in others."

He says he is confident the current level of service can be maintained throughout the weekend and adds a contingency plan is being drawn up for next week if necessary.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police says: "We're providing a pretty much normal service at the moment.

"We have access to normal petrol stations but we also have our own depots around the region which we can use. As things stand at the moment we're holding out OK."

Both North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire fire brigades have warned people not to stockpile petrol after a Skipton man was rescued from his burning home.

Another man in the West Yorkshire region has also had his illegal stocks of petrol confiscated.

Firefighters in both brigades are warning that people hoarding petrol are putting themselves, their families, neighbours and firefighters at risk.

North Yorkshire firefighters say a Skipton man is lucky to have escaped with his life" after a fire broke out at his Broughton Road home on Monday where he had been stockpiling fuel.

The fire was brought under control by firefighters in less than half an hour but they had to enter the property wearing breathing apparatus to search for other casualties whilst the injured man received first aid from paramedics. The man was taken to hospital suffering with burn to his back and the house was severly damaged.