POLICE are being criticised for taking 10 hours to stop an illegal rave which brought 1,000 people to a Severn Beach field.

The force started receiving reports of the rave on a disused piece of industrial land in the Hallen area at about 1.30am on Sunday, November 1.

Complaints came from residents from as far away as Chepstow and Newport, on the other side of the Severn estuary, as 500 vehicles were attracted to the site.

Officers attended at around 11am and seized five vehicles and equipment after the unofficial and unlicensed Halloween music event on Saturday night, which was shut down by 12.30pm.

Five people will be summoned to court over the rave, but leader of South

Gloucestershire Council Matthew Riddle, who lives between Oldbury and Thornbury, said the force needs more power to stop illegal events.

“I was woken up at 4.30 am with a bass beat coming up the river through the fog,” he said.

“The law should be tightened up to give the police real powers to stop this type of anti-social behaviour and some real punishment to the organisers.

“This is the third illegal rave in the Severn Vale over last five years, the first two were in Hill parish and now this one.”

Thornbury resident Gill Killey said she is shocked it took the police so long to act.

"I could hear this constant throbbing beat for hours," she said.

"I must be five or six miles from where it was, but it was a horrible, non-stop noise.

People's pets must have been affected by the noise.

"I can't understand how it took so long, probably 12 hours in total, for the police stop it."

Olveston resident Michael Wright was also affected by the noise.

“The bass sound was much more intrusive than the Severn navigation fog horns”, he said.

“It must have been very powerful audio equipment.

“I’m no audio expert but the bass reverberation came straight through a very well insulated and double glazed new house into the bedroom. It was a very annoying sound.”

Brian Hopkinson, who was staying a few miles away from where the rave was, said: “To clearly hear words from rock music from five miles away shows how loud this was.

“Our police are sorely stretched and I went to the site and helped as much as I could. 

“I was totally impressed by the PC's courteous but firm manner in which they looked to keep both party goers and the general public safe and attempt to bring the illegal organisers of this event to book.”

Avon and Somerset Chief Inspector Sonny Walker said: "If we are aware in advance about a potential event the law allows us to take action to close it down and seize whatever music equipment is on site before it gets fully underway. 

"However, if it has already started and there are a large number of people on the site, an assessment has to be made whether safe and proportionate action can be taken at that moment. 

"The assessment includes looking at the impact on the local community, the safety of those at the site and of police officers that might have to intervene. We will also assess the accessibility of the site, environmental conditions and of course whether there has been, or is likely to be, any criminal offences or public order issues. 

"Any potential action we may take is also balanced with the assessment of the number of resources we would need to intervene and the demand upon the force at that time. 

"All incidents will be compared to the threat, harm and risk that they pose when deciding where resources will be deployed. Our priority is always the safety of the public.

"Throughout the night we continued to monitor the event, preventing others accessing the site and containing those that were already there in the area."

South Gloucestershire Council said its environmental health team worked with the police to deal with the rave.