IT was a busy New Year’s Eve for police in Herefordshire.

The West Mercia force, which covers the county, was dealing with an incident every 40 seconds on average in the period after midnight.

The local policing priority team, which targets problems specific to local communities, was in action dealing with what it described as “several alcohol-fuelled incidents in Herefordshire”.

Their work included arresting someone seen damaging Christmas decorations and breaking shop windows in Hereford. He was taken into custody after a short chase on foot.

In all, between 11pm on New Year's Eve and 7am today (New Year's Day) West Mercia Police received 371 999 calls (a 1 per cent increase on last year), received 254 101 calls (14 per cent up on last year), created 447 incidents (4 per cent up on last year) and deployed to 141 immediate incidents (30 fewer than last year).

At their peak (1am), call handlers received a 999 call every 37 seconds, and the average wait time to answer a call was 7 seconds.