EVERY festive season Gwent Police make strenuous efforts to get the 'don't drink and drive' message to motorists.

Now the South Wales Fire Service has a new seasonal message for revellers - don't drink and fry.

In a hard-hitting statement they say people who put the chip pan on after drinking alcohol and then fall asleep sometimes never wake up again.

John Hale, station officer at Ebbw Vale Fire Station, says there have been 167 chip pan fires in the service's area since April last year. There were two fatalities in the area.

Now the fire service is issuing safety advice to people who fancy a bite to eat after drinking:

* Give up using chip pans. * Use a thermostat-controlled deep fat fryer. * Use oven chips. * Better still, use the chip shop.

General safety advice includes not filling a chip fan more than one third full of cooking oil, not putting wet chips into hot cooking oil and never leaving a chip pan unattended with the heat on.

The South Wales Fire Service have enlisted the help of scores of pubs in the region, including four in the Ebbw Vale area.

The campaign was launched at the Picture House in Ebbw Vale where members of staff will be wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the logo 'Don't Drink and Fry' over the festive period.

Mr Hale said: "It's that time of the year when everybody is socialising and going to parties. We are not suggesting that people go without food but to have a takeaway instead.

"To put the chip pan on and then fall asleep while the oil is warming up is quite an easy thing to do so we urging people not to do it in the first place."

He added: "At the end of the day your life is more important than your property so if you do have a chip pan fire and it gets out of hand just close the kitchen door and go outside."