London Ambulance Service took more than 500 emergency calls an hour at peak times -double the number of calls it normally receives - as Londoners welcomed in the new year.

However, there were fewer patients treated in the central London event area compared to last year.

In total, 146 people were cared for in the St John Ambulance treatment centres and 55 patients were taken to hospital.

Last year, 200 people needed medical attention and 66 were taken to hospital.

Assistant director of operations Pauline Cranmer said: “It was an incredibly busy night for us and we have treated a lot of seriously ill and injured patients. Many had too much to drink and had other injuries as a result.”

During the busiest hour, 2am to 3am, call takers answered 512 emergency calls compared to 469 last year.

During an average hour, London Ambulance say they would normally only take around 250 emergency calls an hour.

Between midnight and 5am, ambulance crews attended 485 Category A patients – the most seriously ill and injured people, compared to 568 last year.

To help manage the increased demand, London Ambulance worked with St John Ambulance to run nine treatment centres.

It also had two ‘booze buses’ operating in central London with paramedics responding to alcohol related calls.

Most of the patients in the treatment centres had alcohol-related illnesses or injuries, being helped to sober up and treated for minor injuries before being discharged.

In the congested central London area medics worked on foot in teams of three with St John Ambulance volunteers, carrying full medical equipment with them.

Pauline added: “Every year we work closely with St John Ambulance at temporary treatment centres to ensure people out celebrating in central London receive the most appropriate medical care as quickly as possible.

“By caring for people in treatment centres we can avoid taking them to busy A&E departments."

New Year's Eve figures

London Ambulance’s control room usually takes an average of 250 calls an hour. Here are the breakdown of calls per hour:

Hour Calls 2016 Calls 2015
12am to 1am 380 357
1am to 2am 505 457
2am to 3am 512 469
3am to 4am 472 409
4am to 5am 352 350