THE final Friday night before Christmas saw more than 3,000 people contact the ambulance service.

Branded 'black Friday' for the emergency services it had been feared it would be a night where the emergency services were pushed to the limits.

But despite receiving the thousands of calls the ambulance service said thanks to preparation and staffing levels they were able to cope with the demand.

In total the West Midlands Ambulance Service received 3,244 calls, which is slightly higher than in previous years. In 2013 there were 3,078 calls, 2012 saw 3,209 calls to the ambulance and in 2011 there were 2,504 emergency calls.

The busiest hour for the ambulance service was between 2pm and 3pm, this was followed by the hour from 12pm until 1pm, with the third busiest period from 9am until 10am.

Activity was also about the time period of 8pm until 10pm when the service received almost 150 calls per hour.

The three main complaints were feeling generally ill, falls and breathing problems.

Assistant chief officer Mark Gough, said they coped very well.

"It was a challenging night but due to a lot of hard work, preparation and planning we were able to cope with the level of demand thanks to the fact we had the right level of resources in operation," he said.

"Thanks go to all of the staff who continue to work extremely hard through this busy period. Moving forward, we expect to remain busy throughout Christmas so would urge the public to only call 999 for life-threatening emergencies.”

West Mercia Police reported a relatively quiet night in South Worcestershire.

Lesley Williams, Force Duty Inspector at West Mercia Police, said there were no incidents of note.

"I think for a Friday night before Christmas there was normal policing, nothing unexpected," she said.

And as for tonight she added: "It's hard to say, it's the Saturday before Christmas, but then I would have expected last night to be busy. I would expect a busy night but we will wait and see.

"Hopefully we will get the same again (as last night) tonight."