999 control centre swamped

Ambulance crews took an emergency call every 20 seconds from midnight to 5am today – as alcohol-fuelled violence put the service under "considerable pressure".

Extra staff were drafted in to cope with hundreds of booze-related incidents throughout the West Midlands including revellers collapsing, fights and assaults.

Volunteers from the St John Ambulance Service and the Red Cross were brought in as West Midlands Ambulance Service took a total of 1,420 calls, a sharp increase on last year.

West Midlands Ambulance Service chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "Staff across the region were incredibly busy.

"The vast majority of calls received this morning were to alcohol-fuelled incidents, including people collapsing, falling over and injuring themselves, and to fights and assaults in pubs and bars in the main centres throughout the region.

"I would like to thank the many staff who worked over the New Year period. Their professionalism and dedication have ensured that patients across the region have received appropriate care in a timely manner."

About 100 calls were made in the first 45 minutes of today alone. By 5am, 746 calls had been made in Birmingham, the Black Country and Shropshire, with almost 330 in Staffordshire.

West Midlands Police said it had been an average night for them, with no major incidents among 2,324 emergency calls received between 10pm and 6am. Some of the calls were from practical jokers, with a woman phoning to wish the emergency services a Happy New Year and a man asking which prison his uncle was in.

Fire crews all over the West Midlands and Staffordshire dealt with 165 calls overnight. In Stafford, a family and their 11 dogs had a lucky escape when a firework landed on the roof of their flat in Vauban Court, Queensville, and sparked a blaze in the roof space.