DUNFERMLINE'S successful scheme to keep revellers safe in the city centre will be operating in High Street on Hogmanay.

Operation Safe Night, which has been operating since October 2009, will be even more visible over the New Year celebrations as the project's Safe Zone has moved outside.

Instead of using the old council offices in Douglas Street - there is a burst pipe in the building - the team has taken to the streets with a marquee on High Street.

Susan Hughes, chief executive of Dunfermline Delivers, which introduced Operation Safe Night, said, "The move out into the High Street has meant that everyone visiting at night can see exactly where the Safe Zone is.

"It's busier than ever, more people come in to say hello and the soup goes a lot faster!

"The project is running every weekend during the winter and incidents in the city centre are now a rarity which is fantastic news for visitors and for businesses." Last Christmas and New Year during the heavy snow, the Safe Zone became a central hub where the team of taxi marshals, street pastors and first aiders swung into action.

They co-ordinated safe passage for visitors from the Safe Zone as and when taxis managed to manoeuvre through the snowy streets, rather than asking people to queue outside at taxi ranks. One visitor who collapsed in the street was brought to the Safe Zone where medical attention was arranged, minutes before hypothermia set in. Ged Carstairs, who co-ordinates the taxi marshals and stewards in the city centre, said, "Because they knew about the Safe Zone, the people who helped him brought him in here and we arranged medical help and were able to contact his family because his mobile had been ICE'd � that means his key contacts had been highlighted for In Case of Emergency.

"This is something we have been promoting since the start of Operation Safe Night and this shows how well it works."