GWENT Police responded to more than 450 calls in less than seven hours overnight on New Year's Eve.

Between midnight and 6.45am, Gwent Police responded to 370 emergency and 95 non-emergency calls.

In what is the busiest night of the year for emergency services nationwide, officers say they were taking calls at a rate of around one per minute.

The majority of calls police had to deal with related to minor offences attributed to excess drinking from the New Year's revellers.

PC Andy Charles, Crime and Disorder Reduction Officer (CADRO) for Abergavenny said New Year's Eve was not as busy as anticipated and they responded to seven calls ranging from one fight outside a restaurant to anti-social behaviour and people refusing to leave private parties.

He said: "It was quieter than expected, it went well for us, the long opening hours have made a difference, we don't get the influx of people at one specific time. Overall, I am pleased with how its gone, violent crime was kept down that night."

Police in Pontypool also had a quiet New Year's Eve and attributed it to high visibility patrols.

CADRO for Pontypool, PC Andy Cleaton said: "It was a very quiet New Year's Eve in Pontypool with no significant trouble either before or after midnight, there were extra officers drafted in on overtime.

"Put the quiet evening down to early intervention and high visibility policing as part of an ongoing operation throughout the Christmas and New Year period."

Inspector Mark Ryley said that across Gwent: "It was slightly busier than last year and the force coped very well with it. Put that down to use of mobile phones increasing, we get more calls, people are more prone to telling us about incidents and we're better placed to take the calls."

He added: "It was mainly the usual New Year's Eve revelling and drinking, no serious incidents thankfully. Most of it was to do with excess drinking and noise nuisance."