Police were out in force around the Bradford district last night to clamp down on binge drinkers getting involved in public disorder.

In Bradford city centre, dozens of police officers, Community Support Officers and Special Constables were on high-visibility patrol around the West End, which has been a hot-spot for public order problems.

Sergeant Graham Sykes said: "We were expecting to really start seeing possible trouble after about 10pm when people have been out for a while but by 9pm we had already made one public order arrest.

"Drinking and the associated offences are a national problem; I don't think Bradford is any worse than anywhere else.

"It is unusual in that the bars are mainly concentrated in the West End so there are a lot of people in a relatively small area, which can cause problems after people have been drinking."

On one of the busiest nights of the year, other town centres in the Bradford district were also being targeted with extra patrols, part of the second phase of a Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers' crackdown on alcohol-related disorder and under-age drinking, which runs until Monday, January 3.

Patrols were also making random visits to pubs, clubs and bars in the city centre to ensure there were no problems with disorder or serving youngsters illegally.

Police now have the power to give on-the-spot £80 fixed penalty fines to anyone committing anti-social behaviour, such as swearing, shouting, scuffling or fighting, in the streets.

They also pledged to arrest anyone involved in more serious incidents.

Police also have new powers to immediately close drinking establishments for 24 hours where disorder is taking place.

West Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable David Crompton said: "We want people to have a good time. What we don't want is drunken idiots who spoil it for everybody else."

Police had back-up support in case any serious incidents broke out.

Police are also working with trading standards officers to make undercover visits to off licences in the district suspected of selling alcohol to under-age youngsters.

Every police force in the country is involved in the second phase of the crackdown. The first stage, in the summer, saw more than 5,650 arrests made nationally, with more than 4,000 fixed penalty fines issued by police.