AMBULANCE bosses are urging people to look after themselves as the service sees a rise in calls during the continuing cold snap – particularly to slips and trips.

As Lowestoft awoke to another covering of snow this morning (Sunday), bosses at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) have called on locals to keep well and warm.

With temperatures plummeting to -17C in parts of Suffolk early yesterday (Saturday), the ambulance service received 54 calls to crashes across the region, a dozen of which involved casualties who needed to be taken to hospital for further treatment.

And four of those incidents happened in Suffolk with patients taken to hospital after a car crash in Fornham St Martin; a 16-year-old girl came off her moped and suffered head injuries and a possible broken leg in Martlesham; while a 24-year-old man was injured in a collision between a car and a motorbike in Leiston.

Dr Pamela Chrispin, Deputy Chief Executive and Medical Director of EEAST, said: 'Ice and cold temperatures do mean an increase in slips, trips and falls, which can occasionally result in serious injury.

'During inclement weather, make sure you only go out if you really need to. However, if you do, practical things like wearing extra layers of clothing and sensible footwear can make all the difference.'

Locals have also been warned about the dangers of icy ponds, lakes, reservoirs and rivers following calls to people who had fallen in freezing water - including an incident in Lowestoft where a man had fallen in a river.

• Two patients were taken to hospital in Norfolk yesterday after incidents involving a motorcycle or moped.

At 3.03am East of England Ambulance Service crews were called to Lawn Avenue in Great Yarmouth where a man had come off his motorbike. He was taken to James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston with leg injuries.

And at 9.40am crews were called to Lowestoft Road in Gorleston where a 20-year-old man who had fallen off his moped after hitting an icy patch of road.

The man was also taken to James Paget University Hospital, with a suspected collarbone injury.

Steve Western, a forecaster at the University of East Anglia-based weather service, WeatherQuest, said there is danger of freezing rain making roads treacherous across the region this morning (Sunday).

Mr Western said: 'After about 9am today the temperature will rise to 3C or 4C and that will spell the end of this very cold weather. By Tuesday we will be seeing temperatures of 6C to 8C.'