Royal Ascot police in Twitter updates for racegoers

Image caption, Royal Ascot attracts about 350,000 racegoers over five days

Police at this year's Royal Ascot have invited racegoers to keep up to date by following their Tweets.

Traffic and incident updates will be posted for the first time by the force on the social networking site Twitter.

The course expects 70,000 racegoers for each of the five days of what is traditionally a big highlight in the British flat racing calendar.

Thames Valley officers will also be sending text messages via Bluetooth equipment at the course.

The messages will encourage people to drink sensibly and keep their valuables safe.

Supt Rob Povey, senior commander for Royal Ascot, has also recorded a message about policing the event on Youtube.

He said: "As with previous years, we are expecting large crowds of people throughout the week and I would urge racegoers to allow plenty of time for their journeys.

"People are also reminded to keep their property secure at all times.

"In addition to communicating via our police website, community messaging, and local media, we will be using Twitter for the very first time for this event."