Don't stop the party, just follow Edinburgh's example.

The famous Hogmanay street party has always been popular but, by the late Nineties, so many people were turning up the authorities and emergency services could barely cope.

With the Millennium fast approaching, the council decided it had to limit numbers.

The answer was to find a sponsor to cover the costs and issue 150,000 free tickets on a first-come first-served basis, with a maximum of two tickets an applicant to discourage touts.

These are available at the tourist information centre or by post or email from October. The tickets, incidentally, specify that revellers must bring their drinks in cans or plastic containers. Glass bottles are not allowed.

As soon as Christmas is over, rows and rows of Portaloos, rubbish skips and barriers start appearing in Princes' Street Gardens and the side roads to be closed for the party.

At 6pm on New Year's Eve, the area of the party is cordoned off and only ticket-holders are admitted. Stewards checking tickets also check no one has glass bottles.

-David Durant, Piper Road, Colchester, Essex