Police urge public to plan ahead for New Year’s Eve

With 2016 just around the corner, many will be thinking about how to spend the final night of the year before the New Year's resolutions kick in. Planning for this New Year's Eve began when last year's event ended. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been working closely with the Mayor's office, British Transport Police (BTP), Westminster City Council and others to ensure the event runs smoothly and spectators for the ticketed event enjoy a fun evening and ring in the New Year safely.

Once again, the Mayor's fireworks display with Unicef in central London is ticketed and has now sold out. If you do not have a ticket, entry will not be permitted, so the advice from the Met is to watch the spectacle from the comfort of your home. Alternatively you can see in the New Year at one of the hundreds of other celebrations taking place in restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs across the capital.

Whether you have a ticket, have reserved a booking at a restaurant or club, or are going to another celebration across the capital, ensure you plan your journey. Road closures in central London start from 14:00hrs on New Year's Eve and it will be very busy with people travelling into the city, so make sure you leave plenty of time for travelling and arrange a contingency meeting place with family and friends in case you become separated. 

Around 3,000 police officers will be on duty across central London, both within and outside the ticketed areas to prevent crime and disorder; and keep everyone safe.

Superintendent Jo Edwards, the Met's spokesperson said: "New Year's Eve is a major celebration in the diary and the Met has been working with colleagues to ensure celebrations run smoothly and the event is safe and enjoyable for everyone who attends. Our policing plan remains under constant review and the public can expect to see additional police officers in central London, which includes an increased number of firearms officers. Our plans are purely precautionary and not as a result of any specific intelligence.

Superintendent Edwards continued: "I would ask anyone who is travelling into London for the ticketed New Year's Eve event to arrive in plenty of time. We will be supporting stewards with additional entry searches to the ticketed event which is likely to mean it will take longer to get into the viewing areas. We will also be working closely with our partners at British Transport Police who will have additional armed officers in and around central London transport hubs throughout New Years Eve. If you see anything suspicious or that causes you any concern please tell a police officer or steward."

Local borough policing arrangements will remain in place to deal with local events, supported by additional pan-London police resources as necessary.

Superintendent Andy Morgan, silver commander for British Transport Police, said: "New Year's Eve will undoubtedly be one of the busiest nights of the year for the emergency services and we will have officers on the ground at train and tube stations across London. In order to provide further reassurance to everyone, we will also be extending our regular armed patrols and specialist support beyond normal hours. We would encourage everyone to enjoy their evening and to travel home safely, making sure you have your travel arrangements in place and know when your last train home is."

• For more information to plan your night visit: met police website
• On the day you can follow police on Twitter @MPSEvents
• You can get live updates @LDN_gov

Tips from the Met Police to help you enjoy New Year's Eve 

• - If you're coming to the Mayor of London's ticketed fireworks display, check out all the information you'll need on the official website: london.gov.uk
• - If you don't have a ticket, our advice is to watch the coverage on television.
• - Most bars and clubs are ticket only or you need to book in advance.
• - If you're going to be outside for the fireworks make sure you wrap up warm as there is likely to be lots of waiting around.
• - Travel around town by public transport, if you drive into town during the day you won't be able to drive home once road closures have been put in place. Visit met.police.co.uk for information on road closures that could affect your journey.
• - If you're travelling by public transport, plan your journey and check the times of your last bus, tube or train. Visit tfl.gov.uk for travel information.
• - There is a huge demand for public transport at certain points in the evening. Post midnight you may have to wait some time before getting on the tube or train so be prepared to queue.
• - Criminals use the cover of crowds to commit crime - keep a close eye on all your belongings and only carry the essentials.

Met Police statement on strike action by PCS Union

Metropolitan Police statement:

"The PCS Union has informed the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) that they intend to take strike action on New Year’s Eve. We want to reassure Londoners that the MPS has taken the necessary steps to ensure that in the event of strike action, our essential services to London will continue.

The MPS’s took the decision in November to give a 1% pay rise to all police staff. This is at the ceiling of the Government’s public sector pay policy and the pay increase was given without any strings attached to it. The PCS demands include a pay increase of up to 6%. The MPS is simply unable to meet this demand.

The PCS Union which represents a number of our police staff has been balloting its members in the past weeks on potential strike action over the pay dispute. There are just over 14,000 members of police staff in the MPS. Only around 20% of PCS members took part in the vote and 1,150 people voted for strike action. That accounts for just 1 in 12 police staff members in the MPS actively voting for strike action.

The PCS has now informed the MPS that they intend to take strike action on New Year’s Eve - one of the days when demand for our services is highest. We have tried and tested business continuity plans for all eventualities, including industrial action. These ensure that critical functions performed by police staff are performed by police officers who are fully trained in those roles.

To ensure we are able to implement these plans, we stopped granting any further requests for annual leave or days off for officers and staff in a number of key areas for New Year's Eve in mid-December. In some cases we've also had to take the very difficult decision to cancel planned days off for officers with certain critical skills or in critical operational areas.

These are clearly all steps we'd rather not take, but we have to be prepared to maintain critical operational areas in the event of a strike action by police staff, and we are confident that we have appropriate plans in place."