South Yorkshire emergency services braced for 'Mad Friday'

Emergency services in South Yorkshire are bracing themselves for one of their busiest nights of the year, as thousands are expected to hit bars and clubs for 'Mad Friday'.

It's traditionally the busiest evening of the festive period for our county's nightime economy as people celebrate the last working day before Christmas.

South Yorkshire Police are putting extra officers on the streets to cope with an increase in demand tonight as well as backroom staff as a spike in arrest's expected.

Superintendent Sarah Poolman is urging people to be sensible when they're out drinking:

"Don't go out and get so drunk that you can't control yourself. Look after your friends, look after your family if you're out with them - make sure they're safe, make sure they've got a taxi home. The key message is around safety. Clearly part of our policing response to that is to arrest those who are intent on causing harm and we will do that robustly but our primary aim is to keep people safe.

"If your friends are on the cusp of doing something silly, try and stop them. One night of the year for a normal member of the public, going out, getting too drunk, then doing something silly and ending up with a criminal record - that's not what the police want, that is not certainly what that individual wants."

Superintendent Poolman says they're ready for a busy night:

"We've got additional Police resources on the streets in all of our 4 main towns and cities so they will be patrolling, wanting to speak to members of the public and engage with them - find out how their feeling. And then be called on for any emerging issues - we've got CCTV coverage clearly.

"Primarily it's the lower end of the spectrum, you've got your anti-social behaviour and disorder related to alcohol consumption right through to higher levels of criminal activity which is why we've got increased resources in all of the town and city centres across the county."

• A Bitter Pill