Four calls a minute on New Year’s Eve

Jan 2 2008 by Darren Devine, Western Mail

THE Welsh emergency services fielded 999 calls at the rate of almost four a minute overnight on New Year’s Eve, a police inspector said yesterday.

The police and ambulance services both reported being stretched to the limit by the volume of calls that flooded in during the six to seven hour period after midnight.

Almost all forces suggested the volume of calls they received increased on last year during what is the busiest night of the calendar for police across the UK.

With the exception of North Wales, where officers attended a stabbing of a man, 53, most forces were called out to deal with minor offences related to drunkenness.

Inspector Gary Smart of South Wales Police said there was a definite increase in the number of 999 calls it responded to this New Year’s Eve compared with last.

Mr Smart said the force received 1,300 999 calls between midnight and 6am – 3.6 per minute. These came from sources including members of the public, other emergency services and officers on the streets.

He said the force collates its figures via two separate computer systems and data could only be collected from one of these yesterday. The 1,300 figure is therefore likely to be an underestimate of the volume of calls. Inspector Smart said the force had received about 1,616 calls by around midday yesterday.

“That’s more than the average for a Saturday night in just 12 hours today. It’s also more than we had in the 48-hour period between the 31st and the 1st last year. It’s been an exceptionally busy time.

“We were busier than last year, but one positive aspect from our point of view is that there have been few serious incidents.”

Inspector Eric Evans of Dyfed-Powys Police said the force had 230 emergency calls between midnight and 6.45am and there was a “significant difference” in the number of incidents they responded to this year.

He said, “I worked last year’s New Year’s Eve when we had about 180 calls over the same period. There were no major incidents but, given the volume of people out celebrating, we had as many resources out as we could. The greatest demand of the year comes on New Year’s Eve in that specific time slot.”

The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust also reported a very busy evening’s work, responding to 1,462 999 calls overnight between New Year’s Eve and January 1.

Inspector Mark Ryley of Gwent Police said his force responded to 370 emergency and 95 non-emergency calls between midnight and 6.45am.

“We were taking 999 calls at the rate of one a minute, which for a small force is a fair number,” he said. “It was certainly a busier night than last year and almost all the incidents started piling up after midnight. Most of the incidents were drink induced.”

In North Wales officers responded to 516 emergency calls and 573 non-emergency incidents.

Following one of these incidents a 53-year-old man was left in a critical condition after he was stabbed in Amlwch, on Anglesey. A 19-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

At another incident in Holywell officers used a Taser stun gun on a man involved in a disturbance.

North Wales Fire Service said it had “slightly above average level of calls” with eight between 6pm and midnight on December 31 and 12 between midnight and 11am yesterday.

South Wales Fire Service answered 70 calls between 6pm on New Year’s Eve and 9am yesterday. The Mid and West Wales Fire Service dealt with 29 incidents between 10pm on New Year’s Eve and 8am on January 1.