By BETH HALE

Last updated at 00:13 02 January 2008

Binge-drinking revellers fuelled a chaotic start to 2008 as over-stretched ambulance workers battled to cope with emergency calls flooding in at a peak of one every eight seconds.

In the capital alone the London Ambulance Service had to deal with its highest number of emergency calls since the Millennium - the majority related to excess alcohol.

As midnight came and went there was mayhem as scores of drunken partygoers around the country tumbled into the streets, some wearing little more than their underwear.

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Fights erupted and a string of dishevelled young men and women collapsed on benches and in doorways, too inebriated to remember or care that the night was supposed to be a celebration.

There to mop up the mess were thousands of emergency workers drafted in to provide cover on the busiest night of the year.

In the first four hours of 2008, London Ambulance Service (LAS) dealt with an astonishing 1,825 calls alone, peaking at over 500 calls an hour between 2am and 4am. The volume of 999 calls was up 17 per cent on last year' and four times worse than a normal night.

Meanwhile in the West Midlands the ambulance service fielded 1,400 calls in just five hours - a rate of one every 12 seconds. It was mirrored by the North East Ambulance Service which received 1,860 calls between 11pm and 5am.

Last night the astonishing number of calls to deal with booze-fuelled illness of injury prompted accusations that lives of those in real emergencies were being put at risk and demands for partygoers to wake up the costs of binge-drinking.

LAS spokeswoman Gemma Gidley said: "These calls put the Service under increased pressure to manage demand when we have to ensure we respond quickly to other patients with potentially life-threatening emergencies.

"People need to think about the real consequences of drinking so much that they require treatment."

In the south, the South Central Ambulance Service dealt with three times more incidents that normal.

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Control room duty manager Michele Foot said: "I think we should start charging people for the drink related stuff - it's most self inflicted."

In some areas special temporary treatment sites were set up to cope, paramedics set out on foot in busy city centres and volunteers from the St John Ambulance Service and Red Cross were drafted in.

Alternative transport was arranged for drunken revellers to take the strain of ambulances.

Hundreds of arrests were made by police for public order offences, as well as violence and sex and drug-related crime.

Riot vans parked in city centres prepared to deal with the inevitable fall out of a night of excess.

While thousands of people celebrated the New Year peacefully - enjoying the visual spectacles of fireworks and live music - for others the temptation to over-indulge in what have become an all-too common scenes of drunkenness was too great.

In Birmingham a group of friend bragged they would be "crawling" by the end of the night.

In Newcastle, in scenes mirrored everywhere, a young woman - shoeless and seemingly very much the worse for wear - had to be aided by paramedics while nearby a well-built man lay face down in the street after being set upon by four other men.

"This is going to be a long night," said one weary paramedic, confiding: "We will spend all night picking up people who are too drunk to walk and people who got into fights."

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Everywhere revellers who had lost all their inhibitions were happy to brag about their drinking exploits.

Sisters Sarah and Teri Crame, both dancers, wore burlesque outfits better-suited to the boudoir as they strutted through the rain-soaked street.

"We've been drinking since about seven," said Teri. "We're both wrecked and loving it. Mixing our drinks always leads to trouble - we've had wine, lager and vodka tonight."

In Cardiff a group of young women, who would have been well-advised to cover up, tottered along in nothing more than heels and white underwear.

Among those happy to boast about far exceeding the Government recommended weekly safe limit for drinking in just one night were a group of teachers.

Bearing the brunt of the chaos, Paramedic Martyn Sullivan said: "We've had a lot of drunken calls and a lot of assault. I've been threatened myself tonight."

In Bristol, a young woman wearing a tiny black dress despite the elements slumped on the floor as a friend, laughing, spent five minutes trying to lift her.

Meanwhile a semi-naked man argued with police and other partygoers vomited over railings into the river.

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Fights broke out long before midnight and continued into the small hours.

In Slough, Berkshire a crowd of drunken teenagers was involved in a punch up which ended with a 17-year-old boy being stabbed in the chest. Another person was stabbed in Woking, Surrey after a mass brawl.

In Hampshire every custody centre in the county was full.

For anyone not used to the less than sober face of a British New Year the night was something of an eye-opener.

Belgian Florence Meganck, 25, was out in Bristol and summed up the evening.

"At 9pm I saw people throwing up - England is totally different to Belgium.

"The whole evening I have been watching English girls wearing dresses that only just cover their underwear. They zig-zag through the streets in their tiny skirts.

"I saw a girl who looked like she wasn't older than 12 buy alcohol from a shop and then give it to even younger girls waiting outside.

"Even though I haven't drunk tonight I have had such fun laughing at all the drunken English people.

"But these drunks won't enjoy New Year's Eve, most of them won't even remember it."