HOMEOWNERS obsessed with naming their property are putting their lives at risk a paramedic has warned – because crews cannot find them.

Staff are having to “frantically” look for homes that do not have a number, losing them vital minutes, paramedic Marc Lister said.

Some streets were nothing but named homes he said - and urged residents to have numbers clearly on display.

It comes at a time of immense pressure on ambulance chiefs who are struggling to hit a new 999 target.

Mr Lister, a High Wycombe paramedic, said: “We have had to stop the ambulance outside every single house, run down the driveway and try and find the name of every single house.

“We know behind one of the doors down the road there could be someone who is dead or dying and desperately needs our help.

“If they had a house number it really could save their life.”

He said: “It is a very common problem, it happens once or twice a shift which is about one in ten jobs.

“Buckinghamshire is a very affluent area, people like to have a house with a name, but they need to help us to help them.”

Staff at ambulance HQ programme house numbers into ambulances satellite navigation systems he said – but crews find it hard to know if they have the right house.

Mr Lister said: “We have banged on the wrong door, one time we ended up having to kick the door down and it was the wrong house.

“Sometimes we have to rely on wheelie bins as they have the number painted in white letters on the side.”

Mr Lister said numbers must be visible from the road – whether a householder has a name plate or not.

Ambulances have to respond to the most life threatening calls in eight minutes – but a new target introduced in April has made this even tougher.

The new target states the clock starts ticking the moment a 999 call is put through to the ambulance call centre.

Before, the clocked started ticking from when the call was processed by call centre staff, which usually took about 90 seconds.

The target is to answer 75 per cent of calls in this way – but 74 per cent is being met in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, the lowest in South Central Ambulance Service’s area, which includes Hampshire and Berkshire.

Nigel Rees, manager of Flowerland garden centre in Hedsor Road, Bourne End, which sells the signs, said he had sympathy with paramedics’ plight.

He said: “We deliver cut flowers and have the same problem. If you have a road which have all named houses then it is going to take a while.

“For regular customers, we record on our books where they are on the road so we know where to go next time.

“I would have thought the ambulance service would be able to do something like that with technology nowadays.”