Rave party organisers ‘not told of noise complaints’
By thisisessex – Wednesday 14 March 2001
Copyright: thisisessex
The organisers of an illegal rave party in Colchester have defended the event which they say was a huge success.
Despite the fact they did not have permission to be on the disused site of the former railway social club in Magdalen Street, the pair say they were never told about residents’ complaints about noise.
The first calls about the loud music from the “free party” were made in the early hours of Sunday and continued throughout the night.
Organiser Matt, who refused to give his surname, said the event began at about 10.30pm and revellers were still enjoying the music at 8.30am.
He said they went in at midday on Saturday to clear up and make it safe.
“We did not have permission or anything like that but it is a derelict site.”
He said there were no plans to return to the site, adding: “We never go back to the same place twice.”
But he said he and the other organisers spoke to police officers who asked if everything was OK.
“They turned up with an ambulance because they thought someone was unwell, but they weren’t and then we invited them in but they said they didn’t need to.
“They came back at 8.30am and took our names and addresses and were very nice and pleasant to us but they did not mention once that there had been complaints about the noise or ask us to turn it down,” added Matt.
A spokesman for the police said they were still looking into the event but had not intervened because of the scale and the amount of people there.
“It would have taken half the county’s police force to go in there and break it up safely and we did not feel that was necessary,” he added.
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