While most people were raising a glass of bubbly to toast the New Year, or perhaps retired to bed early with a good book, staff from the emergency services were working harder than ever.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service - which handles 999 calls across Kent, sussex and Surrey - dealt with in excess of 1,000 calls during the six hours from 10pm on New Year's Eve till 4am on New Year's Day.

The figure of 1,080 emergency calls represented an increase of 100 on the same period the previous year (10.2 per cent) and equated to an average of three calls every minute.

A spokesman said a large number of calls were related to people falling over, suffering from breathing difficulties or being injured in fights and assaults.