New Year revellers have been warned they will face £80 fines if their behaviour gets out of hand.

Brighton and Hove Police, gearing up for the biggest social night of the year, said they would be issuing on-the-spot fixed penalty notices to crack down on yobs and drunks.

Police have the power to fine anyone who is drunk and disorderly or anyone who has buying or selling alcohol to under-18s.

The notices are part of a nationwide seasonal blitz to deal with the antisocial effects of binge drinking. A similar scheme over the summer saw 4,120 fixed penalty notices dealt out to individuals nationwide.

Over the weekend, which marked the launch of the latest campaign, seven people were arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Brighton and Hove city centre, and nine people were fined £80 for alcohol-related offences.

Alcohol was confiscated from 47 youths on Friday and Saturday nights.

Police visited 19 off-licences and 43 pubs and bars in the city, sometimes accompanied by officers from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and Environmental Health. In a handful, officers found high levels of drunkenness, under-age drinking and food hygiene problems. The incidents are under investigation and police have chosen to issue informal warnings to the owners rather than take immediate legal action.

A police spokeswoman in Brighton and Hove said: "These figures from the first weekend of the Christmas alcohol blitz are very encouraging and show the police are fully committed to tackling alcohol fuelled antisocial behaviour."

She said the same tactics would be used to police New Year festivities. With its reputation as a party city, an influx of people from all over Sussex and much further afield has been widely predicted.

Brighton and Hove City Council is expecting tens of thousands of extra revellers to flood the city's streets and seafront to see in 2005.

Council leader Ken Bodfish said:

"People should have fun without spoiling it for everyone else.

"We have not had significant problems over New Year in the past, and we just get the odd idiot - 99 per cent of revellers are pleased police will come down heavily on those who overstep the mark. You can be merry without being mad."