Bans and restrictions on traffic in central London

MUCH OF central London will be closed to traffic, apart from the emergency services and taxis, on New Year's Eve.

The Metropolitan Police said there would be a restriction zone from Green Park and Victoria in the west to Liverpool Street in the east, and from Elephant and Castle and Vauxhall in the south, as far north as Tottenham Court Road.

People who live in those areas will be expected to provide a legitimate reason for wishing to enter the zone or proof of address. Others will be directed to the edge of the area where there will be strict parking restrictions.

Hungerford and Westminster Bridges will be closed, Southwark will be closed to traffic and Tower Bridge will close at 4pm. Lambeth will be open only to emergency services.

Tube trains and buses will run throughout the day and night and there will be free travel from 11.50pm on 31 December to 9am on 1 January. Some stations in the centre of the city will close just before midnight.

The streets will be physically closed off with barriers and there will be checkpoints along the route.

A spokeswoman for the Jubilee Line said it had not yet been decided whether the newly built extension would be open. But she said North Greenwich, the station for the Millennium Dome, would be closed.