More than 350,000 people are expected to gather in central London to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Some will line the River Thames for the annual fireworks display at the London Eye on the South Bank. Others will head to the traditional venue of Trafalgar Square to see in 2008 with the bongs of Big Ben.
Much of central London will be shut to traffic from 1800 GMT and there is free travel on the buses and the Underground network between 2345 GMT and 0430 GMT.
More than 3,600 police will be on duty in central London for New Year’s Eve. Police are urging people to plan their route home in advance.
Services on London Underground, the Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink will run all night, in addition to normal 24-hour London bus services. They are all free.
In addition, some national rail services in areas where there are fewer Tube connections are also free.
To mark Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, giant Olympic inspired images will be projected onto the Shell Building on the South Bank in the build up to the midnight fireworks display.
The projections will be accompanied by specially recorded music mixes by BBC Radio 1 DJs Rob da Bank and Gilles Peterson.
Mr Livingstone said: “It is an important and exciting Olympic year for both Beijing and London.”
“Beijing is hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games before handing over to London, which will be hosting a series of events throughout the year in celebration of the Games, including the Olympic Torch Relay in April and the launch of the Cultural Olympiad in the autumn.”
Source: BBC News