Huge number of 999 calls on New Year's Eve

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BOOZE-fuelled fights, assaults, falls and overdoses saw West Midlands Ambulance Service swamped with calls in the first few hours of 2013.

The service received almost 1,300 calls between 1am and 4am on January 1 – an average of five 999 calls every minute - with nearly 150 of them coming from Warwickshire.

Across the West Midlands there were also more than 600 calls in the four hours leading up to midnight on December 31, a 15 per cent rise on figures from the same time last year.

The ambulance service said a large proportion of the calls concerned alcohol-related incidents including fights, assaults, falls and overdoses.

Ambulance service chief executive Anthony Marsh said: “It comes as no surprise to us that New Year's Eve has been the busiest night of the year.

“It is a year in the planning for which as many staff as possible work through the night to ensure patient’s get help when they need it the most.”

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