Crime figures down for Carnival's birthday parade

Notting Hill Carnival celebrated its 40th anniversary in flamboyant style as Europe's best-known street festival brought a Caribbean vibrancy to west London over the bank holiday.

Notting Hill Carnival celebrated its 40th anniversary in flamboyant style as Europe's best-known street festival brought a Caribbean vibrancy to west London over the bank holiday.

Up to a million people are reckoned to have flocked in and police were quick to praise them. By last night, arrests and reports of crime were 30 per cent down on last year. Police said 71 people had been held, compared with 94 last year, mainly for drugs, theft or public order offences.

But officers, tipped off that 60 youths planned disruption, arrested eight people at Mile End tube station for possession of knives and body armour.