A crackdown on taxis on one of the busiest nights of the year saw three cars taken off the road.

Police and Kirklees Council licensing officers chose so-called Mad Friday to pull over and check cabs in Huddersfield town centre.

In total officers checked 67 vehicles at a car park in Queensgate.

Of these 57 were licensed cabs made up of 48 private hire and nine hackney carriages. Three cabs – two private hire cars and one hackney carriage – were given immediate suspensions.

One of these vehicles was also impounded by Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) as it was found to be “unsafe.”

Defects included a missing wheel stud, a bald tyre and a broken spring.

READ MORE: Mad Friday lives up to its name in Huddersfield town centre

A further 14 rectification sheets were issued to owners of licensed vehicles for minor faults. Of the 10 privately owned vehicles the police issued six tickets – four for headlights out, one for a defective seat belt and one to produce insurance.

One driver was arrested for failing a drugs test and after a search of his vehicle a quantity of drugs was found and confiscated by the police.

Kirklees licensing manager Cath Walter said: “The worst results by far were in relation to privately-owned vehicles. Six out of 10 had something wrong with them and one was an immediate arrest due to the driver being unfit to drive through drugs as opposed to his vehicle not being fit.”

Tim Holland, Kirklees district partnerships inspector, said: “On behalf of the Kirklees Road Safety Partnership I am pleased with these results as they are evidence of the licensing department’s continual drive to ensure the safety of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles working in the district.”

There was a light-hearted moment too when the checks inconvenienced a performer on his way to a gig at a town centre venue.

His Honda Civic’s headlights were found to be faulty and he and his roadies were forced to lug equipment several hundred yards down the street.