The London Ambulance Service (LAS) are urging people to drink responsibly and only call them in a genuine emergency as they warn that New Year's Eve may be their busiest night since records began. 

According to the LAS, New Year's Day this year was one of their busiest for seriously ill and injured patients, with 1,876 people requiring urgent treatment. Their statistics show that, between 7pm on December 31, 2015 and 2am on January 1, 2016, a staggering 43 per cent of incidents the LAS were called to were alcohol related.

This weekend they are expecting the numbers to rise even higher, as the service's busiest ever year comes to a close. 

Deputy director of operations at the LAS, Kevin Bate, said: "Every ambulance crew responding to someone who has simply had too much to drink is an ambulance crew not responding to an ill or injured person who needs them. 

"As well as our call takers answering hundreds more emergency calls than usual, we will have hundreds of ambulance crews on London's streets responding to patients who need our help. In addition, our medics will be out on foot alongside colleagues from St John Ambulance to offer help to hose at the central London celebrations. 

"Many of the people we're called to on New Year's Eve are unresponsive. It's not possible to tell over the phone whether they have a serious illness or injury or have simply had too much to drink, so we have to prioritise them immediately. 

"This means other patients such as an elderly faller or someone involved in a road traffic collision will have to wait longer for an ambulance."

He added: "We want Londoners to have a great time this New Year but we also need them to look after themselves and their friends. 

"Too often our crews can spend much of their night caring for people who are vomiting, violent or unconscious after a night out drinking, leaving them unable to respond to other emergencies."

Extra medics will be in place in nine treatment centres across London throughout New Year's Eve to help look after people who have had too much to drink. 

The centres will be based at: 

  • Whitehall Court, Westminster
  • The Sanctuary at Westminster Abbey
  • Rupert Street, Soho
  • Embankment Station
  • St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square  
  • The Mall (north side in Horse Walk, to the west of the Duke of York steps)
  • Waterloo Station 
  • Belvedere Road, South Bank
  • Temple Place, near Blackfriars