THREE friends on a night out in Darlington were arrested after getting involved in a disturbance outside a nightclub, magistrates were told yesterday.

Steven Andrew Noble, 25, of Caledonian Way; Michael Dutton, 22, of Killin Road; and Paul Geoffrey English, 26, of Leyburn Road, appeared at Darlington Magistrates' Court after the incident on July 7.

Dutton and Noble admitted using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause alarm or distress.

English admitted a charge of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause unlawful violence.

The charges related to an incident when the three men had been on a night out drinking in Darlington after a football team presentation.

The men had been drinking in Route 66 and were walking towards the Mardi Gras nightclub when they came across a group of soldiers fighting near Gladstone Street.

Police arrived on the scene, but Jane Brady, prosecuting, said the three men swore at the police after claiming they had been attacked by a group of Scottish soldiers.

English was then seen to throw a punch at a man, and the three were then arrested for public order offences.

Paul Pacitto, speaking for Noble, said: "Mr Noble admits he had rather too much to say about how the police should be doing their job."

English was fined £150 and ordered to pay £55 costs.

Dutton and Noble were fined £100 each and ordered to pay £55 costs.