EXTRA police officers will be on patrol in York and across North Yorkshire over the King's Coronation weekend.

North Yorkshire Police said it is "proud" to play its part in helping members of the public celebrate the coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort.

A large number of street parties, processions and community events are expected to take place across the three-day bank holiday weekend to mark this historic occasion.

As part of the celebrations licensed premises have been given an extension to their opening hours which will enable them to serve alcohol until 1am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The force is deploying additional officers in towns and city centres to ensure that any instances of anti-social behaviour or criminal offences will be swiftly dealt with.

Months of planning, led by the force’s planning department, has gone into this operation. Police officers and staff have had duties changed and annual leave cancelled to ensure that there is enough resource to deal with the anticipated increased demand.

The operation’s Gold Commander, North Yorkshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Scott Bisset, said: “Across North Yorkshire and York, members of the public are looking forward to joining the rest of the country to mark this historic event.

“The safety of the public is of the utmost importance to us, so we’re increasing patrols to ensure that we can keep the public safe, deter anti-social behaviour and maintain law and order.

“My plea to members of the public is please be sensible, plan your night and know your limits.

“I know that the vast majority of people will have a great weekend and won’t need the emergency services. For those that do, please be reassured that we will have extra officers and staff on duty and we will be allocating our resource to those that need it the most.”

As part of the deployment several officers from North Yorkshire Police have also travelled down to London to assist colleagues in the Metropolitan Police with the large-scale policing operation in the capital.

Around 17 Coronation street parties had been approved in communities across the York area. Most will be held the day after the Coronation itself, on Sunday May 7 - what Buckingham Palace has designated 'Coronation Big Lunch' day.

In addition to the officially approved street parties, some schools and other organisations will be holding their own celebrations.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said the Coronation would be a chance for people to get together and celebrate after what has been a tough few years.

"People do want to come together and gather on the streets," she said. "This is a great excuse to do that," she added.