AMBULANCE crews in Merseyside and Cheshire were up to three times busier than normal weekend flashpoints during the New Year’s Eve celebrations, it was revealed last night.

The North West Ambulance Service dealt with 1,524 incidents between 10pm and 6am, including 125 assaults. A 50-year-old man from St Helens was left fighting for his life after an assault, while a teenager was stabbed and three others injured during a fight in Garston.

The busiest hour came between 2am and 3am when paramedics dealt with an average of four incidents each minute in the North-West.

In Merseyside and Cheshire, there were 617 emergency 999 calls between midnight and 5am – three times the demand the service normally receives on a weekend (the busiest period outside the festive season).

Last night, Paul Ferguson, area director for Cheshire and Merseyside, said: “New Year’s Eve is always our busiest night, and this year was no exception.

“All our staff worked hard both in control rooms managing emergency calls and deploying vehicles and on frontline vehicles, tending to patients.

“It is their dedication and commitment that enables us to continue to deliver excellent service to the people of Cheshire and Merseyside – a fact that I am sure the general public will recognise. I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and commitment.

“Across Cheshire and Merseyside, we took 617 emergency 999 calls between midnight and 5am.

“Between 2am and 3am, emergency 999 call levels increased to 159. However, we anticipated this surge in demand and managed it appropriately by increasing resources.”

As well as attending a large number of emergency incidents, including a total of 125 assaults, ambulance crews also responded to a number of other incidents.

There were two incidents of people jumping into the River Mersey, though neither resulted in serious harm.

Mr Ferguson added: “Once again, the public responded well to recent campaigns to use the service with common sense and appropriateness.”