POLICE cells across East Lancashire were completely filled after New Year's Eve revellers caused chaos in town centres.

The ambulance service was also stretched to breaking point as emergency calls flooded in to headquarters.

More than 80 people were arrested in the police area covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley after a series of disturbances outside pubs and clubs.

There were numerous arrests of drink drivers and there were also minor traffic accidents in Rochdale Road, Bacup, and the Grane Road near Haslingden.

Despite numerous fights and scuffles there were no serious injuries nor incidents.

Sergeant Chris Shead, of Blackburn police, said: "We had an extremely busy night and there was a lot of arrests for public disorder. "There was some fighting outside pubs and things got quite busy as the evening wore on.

"It seems a shame that people find it necessary to celebrate the New Year in this kind of way."

Ambulance headquarters dealt with more calls in the space of five hours than they do in the course of a normal working week.

More than 300 people needed emergency treatment and over half of those were admitted to hospital.

New fast response vehicles were used to deal with emergency calls at the height of the rush.

Gordon Brindle, the duty manager at Lancashire ambulance service's headquarters, said: "New Year's Eve was definitely one of our busiest nights of the year but we coped because we had extra crews on to deal with the rush.

"A lot of the calls were related to drink with people falling over and injuring themselves.

"Although we were busy, the number of calls was slightly down from last year but it was still are busiest night of the year."

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