With the Christmas party season in full flow the police are keen to ensure those coming to Hitchin to enjoy the town’s pubs and clubs over the festive period stay safe while celebrating.

Officers also want to send a strong message to the small number of people who may exceed their limits by letting them know that they will not tolerate drunken, disorderly and anti-social behaviour – such as people using West Alley near Market Place as a public toilet.

North Herts Community Safety Sergeant Richard Wilmot said: “Hitchin is a great and safe place for people to come to enjoy themselves to celebrate the festivities, and we want people to have a good time.

“We also want people to get home safely and to take responsibility for themselves and their friends.

“We would urge people to try not to drink too much, look out for each other and plan a safe means to get home.

“As with most towns during the festivities and busy periods we can see a very slight increase in drunken, disorderly and anti-social behaviour that can become disruptive and ruin others having a good time.

“By drinking too much people can become more vulnerable, lose their inhibitions, increase aggression and do things that are out of character.

“I’d like to make people aware that drunken and disorderly behaviour will not be tolerated in Hitchin and we will deal robustly with anyone acting in this manner.”

The police are also still monitoring West Alley and will be continuing regular patrols of that and other areas of the town at weekends.

This means anyone who commits any form of anti-social behaviour will run the risk of being fined for their actions or caught on CCTV and having their image released to the Comet, and across social media, in the hope that the public will help identify those pictured.

In the past two weeks three people have been arrested for drunken and disorderly behaviour.

During the early hours of Sunday, an 18-year-old man from Hitchin taken into police custody and released the next day after being issued with a fixed notice penalty.

And on the evening of Friday, November 27, police arrested a 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old man, both from Hitchin.

They were arrested and taken into police custody before being released the following day and also issued with a fixed £90 fine.

Another man was fined for urinating in Market Place on the same evening.