A fantasist with a “dangerous obsession” with ambulance services posed as a paramedic to try to steal confidential papers from inside the headquarters of the London Ambulance Service, a court heard.

Andrew Vincent, 30, conned his way into the Waterloo building, trying to get hold of a document containing call signs and emergency contact numbers.

But he was rumbled when staff realised he was a notorious fantasist with a history of pretending to be a paramedic. He had been caught on film by Channel 5’s Police Interceptors in 2010 driving a fake ambulance — with blue flashing lights and fluorescent markings — pretending he was rushing to an emergency.

At Blackfriars crown court Vincent admitted fraud by false representation for conning his way into the LAS headquarters on April 21 last year.

Prosecutor Ivan Clarke said: “The defendant has a dangerous obsession with the London Ambulance Service and ambulance services generally.

“The resource file ... is a highly confidential document containing numbers for LAS staff, information about where they are located, details of community response schemes and call signs, and emergency incident numbers.

“In the hands of someone intending to masquerade as a member of the ambulance service, that would assist them and in that situation there is always the danger of harm to others.”

The court heard Vincent, who used a string of aliases, convinced LAS security staff to let him into the building at 8pm and then wandered the halls claiming he was looking for a staff newsletter.

He then asked for the 70-page resource file, pretending to work for the patient transport service in New Malden and claiming his copy was out of date.

However, when a suspicious manager asked to see his ID, Vincent claimed he was new and had not been given his credentials yet.

The manager was also tipped off by a colleague that Vincent might be “a man who on previous occasions had impersonated a paramedic”. He was reported to police, who discovered a London Ambulance service hi-vis jacket and official epaulets, as well as the name tag of a patient transport site manager at his home in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Recorder Tom Nicholson-Pratt told Vincent: “You can’t go around pretending you are involved with the ambulance services in any way, shape, or form — do you understand that?”

Vincent was given a 12-month community order with 120 hours of community service. He was also banned from ambulance service buildings under a restraining order.