On New Year’s Eve Harrow Police received more than double the normal number of emergency calls - including four serious assaults - but crime was still lower than last year.

Between 6pm and 6am on New Year’s Eve there were 34 emergency calls in the borough, compared to around 15 in an average 24 hour period.

Many of the calls on New Year’s Eve were from members of the public concerned about a person slumped on a pavement.

There were also two assaults that resulted in grievous bodily harm, two that resulted in actual bodily harm and four common assaults.

The police’s busiest time was between midnight and 2am.

Chief Inspector Russell Hughes said: “I’ve worked the past four New Year’s and this New Year’s Eve was less busy – there was less criminality and general drunken yobbery.

“The figures were down significantly on last year and only a small number of the incidents were alcohol related.”

Chief Insp Hughes believes there were two reasons for the fall in crime: working with licensees to ensure that they knew how to deal with drunkenness and had enough security staff, and a heavy police presence which the Chief Inspector thinks acted as a deterrent.

He also conceded that crime was probably reduced by the fact it started to rain at about 1am, meaning that people went home rather than staying on the streets.