OXFORDSHIRE residents have been warned they must take care in the heat after the Met Office upgraded its heatwave warning across the UK.

The Met Office yesterday placed Oxfordshire under a level 3 health warning.

This is only one notch below the most serious alert and it puts health, housing, social care and other bodies on alert.

The main risks posed to people are dehydration, overheating, heat exhaustion and heatstroke according to health experts.

Joe McManners, a GP in Headington, said: “The main problems are for very young people and the elderly.

“If people know anyone who is vulnerable and living on their own, I would ask them to check on them.”

Samantha Ncube, manager of Spencer Court care home in Woodstock, said: “We currently have a heatwave plan in place. We make staff aware of heat-related illnesses and so they know what signs to look out for.

“This means we give residents more fluid than normal. “In particular, we identify residents most at risk and make sure a member of staff goes to them, called the fluid intake charge.”

James Keating-Wilkes, from the South Central Ambulance Service, said the heatwave had seen a rise in 999 calls.

He said: “Between July 5 and July 7 we responded to 4,316 emergency calls, of which 1,138 were potentially life-threatening.

“Last weekend saw continuing pressure on the service.”

Chief Inspector Henry Parsons, roads police chief for Thames Valley, also issued advice to bikers to keep their leathers on despite sweat-inducing temperatures.

On the railways, Jon Crampton from Network Rail said the networks in Oxford had not been affected, but that procedures were put in place during hot weather, including temperature speed restrictions.

Oxford’s roads have also not been affected . James Wright, from the Highways Agency, said: “It’s got to get a lot hotter for melting Tarmac.”

The weather has posed problems for businesses. Robert Bull, of Oxford Garden Company, said: “We are struggling, to be honest.

“There just isn’t enough water at present and so not much is growing. It’s adding more time to our jobs to tend to the gardens.”

There was good news, however, at Oxford Botanic Garden, where the Mexican lily flowered as a result of the hot temperatures.

Trainee horticulturalist Celina Barroca said: “It requires hot temperatures to flower.”