Spears taken to hospital after custody dispute

Britney Spears has been taken to hospital after a custody dispute led to police and emergency services being called to her home.

Police officers arrived at Spears' Los Angeles property at 8pm last night. A number of back-up emergency vehicles were called to her home two and a half hours later, and the singer was driven away in an ambulance.

A statement released by the Los Angeles Police Department has indicated that Britney was believed to be under the influence of an unknown substance when she refused to hand over her two children to ex-husband Kevin Federline's bodyguards.

"Police were called to Britney Spears' mansion this evening. She was refusing to hand the children over to their father as part of a court order," LAPD spokesman Jason Lee explained. "We were called and the situation is now what we call a Code 4 - which means everything is done. That means we verified the court document and the children are being returned to their father via representative.

"However we do believe Britney Spears is under the influence and needs to be evaluated. She is being transported to hospital where she will be tested for both drink and drugs. At this stage we do not know what she may or may not have taken - that's while she needs to be evaluated.

"But obviously if the test does prove positive then we would be looking to move her to a police station and charge her. But again I cannot say if that will happen for sure until we get the evaluation test results."

Federline secured temporary custody of his sons Sean Preston and Jayden James in October last year.