YORKSHIRE Ambulance Service received 1,570 emergency calls in just 12 hours over New Year's Eve - about two each minute.

The service said 897 of them were received between midnight and 6am, and their busiest time was between midnight and 3am, when they received 51 emergency calls to assaults.

Many of the calls were alcohol related, between 6pm on New Year's Eve and 6am today, and the number of calls metween midnight and 8am was higher than usual.

Paul Mudd, Locality Director of A&E Operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said: "Our community medical units and police and paramedic teams provided valuable support and were able to treat people who had too much to drink or those who had sustained minor injuries without them needing to go to hospital.

“In the early hours of New Year’s Day we received a significant number of emergency calls to patients who had been assaulted while out celebrating the start of 2015. Clearly this is distressing for those directly involved, but it also places extra pressure on us and partner services."

The service has urged people to "use the 999 service wisely", and consider alternative options before calling for an ambulance.