New Year's Eve celebrations: World welcomes 2018

Scotland Yard confirmed fewer Metropolitan Police officers were working during this year's celebration, but security at the event appeared tight, with armed police on patrol and security barriers erected.

In London, there were 35 arrests during the festivities.

Twelve of these  were made for public order offences and five were were held for GBH, with a further five for common assault.

Two of the arrests were made for assaults on police officers, and there were also two alleged sexual offences that resulted in police action.

Another arrest was for criminal damage, with a further two for theft and one person being held for drugs offences, the rest of the arrests are logged as "other".

As expected, the emergency services were stretched as they dealt with people who had too much to drink.

Along with St John Ambulance, the London Ambulance Service said 295 patients were treated in central London over the course of the New Year's Eve festivities, with many helped to sober up or given treatment for minor injuries before being discharged.

Deputy director of operations Pauline Cranmer said: "It has been a busy night for us, and we've been taking up to 400 calls an hour, when we normally get around 250."

Paramedics, meanwhile, were working from nine treatment centres in the capital to avoid clogging up A&E departments as crews now look to deal with what is expected to remain a busy New Year's Day.

Addressing Londoners who could be waking up "feeling unwell after a heavy night", Ms Cranmer said: "We would encourage them to consider using other healthcare services such as walk-in centres or calling NHS 111 for health advice to ensure our medics are free and able to respond to the patients in serious and life-threatening conditions. "