MAGISTRATES have warned that drunken antics will not be tolerated in the centre of Harrogate in the wake of new licensing laws which allow pubs and clubs to stay open longer.

They heard how 18-year-old apprentice electrician Andrew Lister had shouted, sworn and made offensive gestures at police after leaving a nightclub in the early hours last Sunday, just days after the new rules came into force.

Alison Whiteley, prosecuting, said when police moved to arrest him, Lister struggled so violently that a wing mirror was ripped from a car parked outside the Cardinal Sins club, in Lower Station Parade.

Lister, of King Edward's Drive, Harrogate, who pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour provoking fear of violence and resisting police, told the court he had been stupid.

He had felt humiliated after ''I had wet myself'' and when police told him to move on, he had continued to abuse them. But the damage to the car had been an accident.

Ordering Lister to do 60 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £50 and compensation of £200 for the wing mirror, court chairman David Gravells warned: ''I have to tell you in no uncertain terms that this town will not accept this kind of drunken behaviour in the early hours of the morning. We are determined this kind of thing will receive appropriate punishment.''

And Mr Gravells said the rule should be to stay out of town or avoid getting drink.