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Millions of revellers are heading for town and city centres for the celebrations, sparking one of the largest ever peace-time security operations on mainland Britain. Concrete barriers have been erected in major cities to protect partygoers from a Nice or Berlin-style attack in which lorries were driven into crowds. In central London crack teams of specially-trained police marksmen are monitoring crowds of more than 100,000 gathering to see in 2017. A record number of armed police will patrol the streets, while a ring of barriers will block roads leading to the city centre’s celebrations.

GETTY Europe faces a huge terror threat on New Year's Eve as crowds gather to ring in 2017

Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Phil Langworthy said 3,000 officers will patrol the streets in London. He told the BBC there would be a search operation in progress. Greater Manchester Police are also preparing for a major 'crowd protection' operation in the city. In Scotland Divisional commander Chief Superintendent Kenny MacDonald said there will be a "very visible police presence" at the Edinburgh Hogmanay street party. Also in British cities vehicles will be banned from travelling along certain roads close to where crowds are gathering for the New Year's Eve celebrations.

GETTY Security had already been heightened across Europe due to the Berlin truck attack

British police are determined to thwart any potentital trouble in the wake of the Berlin terror attack which killed 12 people and let dozens more injured and has resulted in police patrols and road blocks being introduced at holioday attractions and events in the UK and across other European countries. New Year’s Eve is seen as a particularly vulnerable time due to the huge crowds that will gather at towns and cities. More than 90,000 police officers and soldiers will be deployed to the streets of France, while Italy has warned “foreign fighters are returning to Europe”.

BERLIN TERROR: 'TWELVE' dead as truck crashed into crowd at Christmas market Tue, December 20, 2016 A truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin killing at least 12 and injuring 48 Play slideshow REUTERS•AFP 1 of 21 A truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin killing at least 12 and injuring 48

In Berlin, 1,700 extra officers will be on duty, many along a party strip where armoured cars will flank concrete barriers blocking off the area. A spokesperson for the German police said: “Every measure is being taken to prevent a possible attack.”

GETTY More than 90,000 police officers and soldiers will aim to keep French revellers safe tomorrow

Madrid plans to deploy an extra 1,600 police on the New Year weekend. For the second year running, access to the city's central Puerta del Sol square, where revellers traditionally gather to bring in the New Year, will be restricted to 25,000 people, with police setting up barricades to control access. In Cologne, west Germany, where hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed outside the central train station on New Year's Eve last year, police have installed new video surveillance cameras to monitor the station square. The attacks in Cologne, where police said the suspects were mainly of North African and Arab appearance, fuelled criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept nearly 900,000 migrants last year.

Bastille Day Massacre: 84 dead Sat, July 16, 2016 84 people have been killed and 100 more injured in the southern French city of Nice after a lorry was 'deliberately driven' into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in a confirmed terrorist attack. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 25 French President Francois Hollande giving a statement following the attack in Nice, during a national television address in Paris