A DRUNK man punching a window and a woman who had fallen and possibly broken a leg are just some of the incidents in the town which led to a busy evening for paramedics on New Year’s Eve.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) recorded 1,993 emergency calls across the region between midnight on New Year’s Eve and 6am on New Year’s Day with 503 serious and/or immediately life-threatening related-incidents.

Phone lines were so busy that at 3am 999 operators had on average taken one emergency call every 9 seconds from midnight as New Year’s Eve revellers partied into the early hours.

Incidents ranged from crews dealing with dog attacks, assaults and firework-related injuries while three crew members were also assaulted while on duty in other areas of the north west.

In Warrington, ambulances were also called to a man who had fallen in the street, a diabetic who had fallen unwell, a man who had fallen in a pub and another man who had fallen and hit his head.

Derek Cartwright, director of emergency service at NWAS, said: “The service always expects a high increase in demand during this time; however we anticipate this surge and managed it appropriately by increasing resources.

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

“It is their dedication and commitment that enables us to continue to deliver excellent service to the people of the North West – a fact that I am sure the general public will recognise.

“I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and commitment. “ During New Year celebrations at the start of 2013, NWAS dealt with 2,353 calls between 6pm and 6am on New Year’s Day.

It meant crews were dealing with 71 per cent more 999 calls on the first day of the year than an average day in 2013.