POLICE have blamed the recession for a marked drop in New Year’s Day incidents in a town.

Officers in Darlington say they dealt with fewer incidents during the early hours of Tuesday, January 1, as revellers chose to celebrate the start of 2013 at home.

A spokesman said: “The town was fairly manageable and the cells were empty.

“There wasn’t as many people out as usual, and not as many incidents as we might have expected.

“The recession has played a big part with people preferring to stay at home now rather than go out and pay for expensive drinks.”