TWENTY seven people were arrested for public order offences in Burnley over New Year celebrations after more than 200 '999' calls.

Between 9pm on New Year's Eve and 7am on New Year's Day, police received more calls than they usually get in the space of a week.

A police spokesman said: "There were a lot of people locked up. The figures were on the same level as Millennium night.

"Because the pubs were open all night the trouble happened at different points during the evening.

"There was also a high volume of incidents -- around 270."

In Blackburn there were 31 arrests between midnight and 6am on New Year's Day, mainly for public order offences, which is double the number made last year.

But Insp Andrea Barrow of Blackburn Police said: "They were mainly fairly minor public order offences and drunkenness. Most arrests took place after people left pubs."

In the rest of the region police said it was relatively quiet for a New Year's Eve with no major incidents.

Insp Steve Chapman of Lancashire Police said: "We had the usual public order offences in town centres."

The area's road policing unit based at Accrington reported no major incidents on East Lancashire's roads, with officers providing back-up for town centre disturbances.

For the rest of the night, it was business as usual as fire stations in Accrington, Blackburn and Darwen dealt with a handful of routine incidents including pan fires, rubbish fires and a car fire.

Lancashire ambulance staff had a busy night but took around 100 fewer calls, totalling around 390, than last year.