UK police say too risky to shut down illegal rave that kept the city of Bath awake
Police in the UK say they were unable to shut down an illegal rave because the risks to public safety of closing an event attended by more than 3000 people in dark and wet conditions were too great. The event was held at the former Charmy Down air force base near the city of Bath overnight Saturday and well into Sunday (UK time). People in Bath were reportedly kept awake by the noise of the gathering. Chief Superintendent Ian Wylie of Avon and Somerset Police apologised for the disruption caused to so many residents. Its frustrating that we are having to pull officers away from our 999 (emergency) response to deal with the selfish actions of the organisers of this event and those attending it, he said in a public statement. READ MORE: * Coronavirus: How do viruses mutate and jump to different species? * Police order Aves Invasion organiser off the road for 12 hours in Christchurch * 'Feral' mess after reserve party has Cromwell residents and holidaymakers fuming They knew full well the disruption this would cause and the ongoing risk to public health of large gatherings due to Covid-19. We brought officers in from their rest days and called on support from neighbouring forces to close down this event, Wylie said. Dedicated patrols had been on duty on Saturday night to respond to any reported unlicensed music events, and had already prevented one rave going ahead, when the first report of the Charmy Down event was received at 11.21pm on Saturday (local time). Police were at the scene within 10 minutes and, finding 1000 people already at the rave, called for help Approach routes to the venue were closed but people abandoned their vehicles and made their way to the venue on foot, Avon and Somerset Police said. The music was turned off by 1pm on Sunday and most of the site cleared by 4pm, although it was necessary to deal with a group trying to carry on the rave in a neighbouring field. One person was arrested for failing to comply with a notice to quit the land, five vehicles, a generator and other equipment seized. About eight emergency calls to the ambulance service were linked to the rave. The noise from the event kept people some considerable distance away awake. Adam Joinson, a professor at the University of Bath, tweeted that he had given up trying to sleep. The rave had kept most of Bath awake, he said. The BBC quoted local Dulcie Walpole saying that as well as the noise issue, the arrival of huge numbers of cars had also caused disruption . "We had appointments to go to this morning and we couldn't actually get out of the lane, there were cars parked all the way down and it's all blocked off," she said.