GOOD Samaritans patrolling Lincoln at night have revealed the extent of 12 months of work – from speaking to distressed war veterans to handing out flip-flops.

Lincoln Street Pastors says it spent about 2,000 hours in the city centre last year helping drunk, injured and vulnerable revellers.

In that time, the group collected an estimated 1,800 bottles to prevent them being used as weapons or being broken on pavements.

The volunteer group said its team of 32, soon to have its numbers boosted to 42 by the end of November, also chatted to hundreds of people to offer assistance and handed out 420 pairs of flip-flops to women walking around without shoes on.

A further 1,555 hours were provided by the group's prayer support team, from November 1 last year, to October 31, with the pastors calling 16 ambulances, handing out 98 space blankets and 300 bottles of water.

Street Pastors co-ordinator Joy Liddle told Lincolnshire County Council's crime and disorder committee her team of volunteers had to deal with a variety of situations.

Mrs Liddle said this included acting as a "listening ear" to allow a soldier who fought in Afghanistan to release his aggression.

She said: "We are there to help Lincoln be a safer place. You have the police on one end as the law enforcement, you have us as safety wardens in the middle.

"We have conversations with all sorts of people – door staff, police, ambulance crews. We have calculated we have had 2,270 conversations over the year.

"A lot of what we do is to provide reassurance. I would say there are 6,000 revellers out on a Friday and Saturday night. If we deal with more than 20 people in one evening, then that is an awful lot for us. A lot of people go out to have a good time. It's the minority who get themselves into bother."

The group started in October 2007 and is out on patrol on Fridays and Saturdays, plus bank holidays and New Year's Eve.

Lincolnshire Police Chief Superintendent Carl Langley said: "The officers are delighted to have the pastors. They do a fantastic job. We admire what they do."

Lincoln Taxi and Private Hire Association spokesman Chris Weston said he was in favour of the group's work. He said: The more sober people helping drunken ones, the better."