Longer opening hours will give consumers more freedom to choose how and when to celebrate New Year’s Eve and it will give the

“Longer opening hours will give consumers more freedom to choose how and when to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and it will give the industry the chance to give their customers what they want,” he said.Police and the public have been able to seek restriction orders on those pubs that are intending to stay open for the full 36 hours, but there are no official figures on how many have chosen to do so.Mark Hastings, from the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “This is a significant and welcome step forward for Britain’s pubs and the millions of people looking for greater freedom and choice in how to celebrate New Year.”Jonathan Mail, a spokesman for the Campaign for Real Ale, said 36-hour opening was a victory for common sense. He added: “Our licensing laws are out of date and we welcome this move by the Government to bring them into the 21st century, albeit for one night only.”Outside London and the other major cities, however, there appeared to be little enthusiasm for the licensing extension among pub landlords faced with having to pay the extra wages. David “GG” McGuigan, of McGuigans Bar in Coventry, said: “It is not commercially viable to keep staff and doormen on all that time. All you get after a certain time is people out of their heads and with nowhere to go.”Police in London are of a similar view and are recommending that people should stay close to home and not venture to Trafalgar Square, where the fountains will be cordoned off and the entire area will be subject to an alcohol ban.Andy Trotter, head of policing for the City of Westminster, said: “Every year people come to Trafalgar Square and the nearby streets to see in the New Year thinking there will be some sort of entertainment.”My advice is to stay close to home, where transport is easier to obtain and the crowds are not so dense.”Elsewhere, however, New Year revellers are being welcomed. Already 40,000 tickets have been sold for tonight’s bash at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich organised by the Ministry of Sound. The party will start at 7pm and close at 9am tomorrow.The Ministry, which paid about £200,000 to hire the Dome for the night, has promised to entertain punters with 50 DJs, in addition to the likes of Judge Jules, Fabio, Dreem Team and Grooverider.In Edinburgh, 100,000 party-goers are expected to come to Princes Street and be entertained by the Scottish bands The Proclaimers and Mull Historical Society, as well as a spectacular fireworks display following the traditional torchlight procession.Cardiff’s City Hall lawn will be transformed into an open-air ice rink and a fireworks display will be accompanied by music from Utter Madness and Nucleus Roots.

In Glasgow 30,000 people are expected to attend a free party thrown by the club Colours, with DJs Roger Sanchez, Huggy Burger Queen and Iain “Boney” Clark.In Birmingham, the singer Shahin Badar will lead the city’s Countdown to Midnight celebrations, which will include Beatles tribute band the Pre-fab Four, followed by the Blues Brothers band Sweet Home Chicago.. Householders in northern Scotland who spent much of yesterday without electricity, bore the brunt of arctic conditions last night, with anticipated temperatures of -8C. Scotland, where settled snow was keeping temperatures down, was again facing the worst of it.Revellers preparing for Hogmanay were warned that sub-zero temperatures would persist over the next few days, following on from snowdrifts and blizzards which have caused widespread chaos.In the Lothians yesterday, fire and ambulance crews were searching for a 19-year-old man who was believed to be trapped beneath the frozen water at Harlaw reservoir near Balerno.One of Scotland’s largest dance events, the Christmas Glam Party hosted by DJs Judge Jules and Dave Pearce at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre, was also cancelled due to bad weather. But there was better news for skiers as the reopening of the A93 at Glenshee restored access to the slopes.Elsewhere, Northern Ireland was reeling from heavy snow falls and winds which left 2,000 homes without power at one point. The snow also shifted into North-east England from the North Sea, as well as affecting north-west England, Wales and the Midlands.But the most perilous driving conditions were reserved for the south of England, where there was a combination of black ice and blinding sun.One motorist died after crashing near Mevagissey in Cornwall yesterday morning – the second fatality in the current cold snap.In Hampshire, police dealt with more than 80 separate crashes within five hours and officers described yesterday as one of their worst ever days for road accidents.Inspector Ian Johnson said: “People have been trapped and injured in cars and vans which are upside down and in ditches all over the place.”The Basingstoke ring road was closed after ice turned it into a skating rink.

There were also 19 accidents on a single three-mile stretch of the A3 in Surrey yesterday morning.The last snow showers were expected to die off in the first half of last night to leave a dry morning today though the minimal amount of cloud cover, leaving clear skies, is expected to keep the UK bitterly cold More cloud and winds are not expected until Wednesday.. A multi-million-pound computer system introduced to handle Prison Service pay has caused chaos, with thousands of staff failing to receive overtime or their correct salaries. Others have been waiting for overtime payments, which make up an important part of many prison pay packages. Some staff have been advised to apply for emergency funds through local Prison Service offices to tide them over.The errors have become so acute that the Home Office plans to introduce an emergency action plan to make sure staff get paid.The problems began in July after CMG Admiral won a multi-million Home Office contract to run the software in a public-private partnership scheme, with the Home Office in charge of the hardware. The new Payfact Enterprise system was designed to automate all the salary payments to 68,000 staff in the Prison Service.Serious errors in its operation led to the recent replacement of the management in October and November, but this failed to end the chaos.”Basically we have been told to go to our local payroll staff to tide us over,” said employee. “It’s not just the prisoners who are angry this Christmas, it’s the staff.”It’s not as if these are unstressful jobs We are looking after some pretty dangerous people … not to be paid for it, particularly at this time of year, is awful.”A Home Office spokeswoman said that “initial problems” had been encountered with the system.