AIBU To think police should break up illegal raves in residential areas?

[Trapper]

9am and they are only just going home. Music blaring all night. Address publicised on Twitter. Police called several times and did nothing. As well as the noise, I have had people urinating in my garden and drugs/drinking in the street. Police completely disinterested and council anti social team do not work anti social hours!

Feel completely let down.

I think it's the sheer number of police needed to break up that sized gathering safely. You probably only have a handful of officers on duty and combined with drink and drugs breaking it up would cause a riot with more problems for residents.

You may never know what they have done because it may not be visible but they have probably gathered evidence of the drug taking etc and will target them when there is less danger to other members of the public.

Sympathy for you though, it must be horrible.

The anti social team do work at night but I think many councils work on a basis that you are asigned to an anti social team once they have confirmed that there is anti social behaviour going on on a regular basis. It is for ongoing nuisance rather than one offs these days. I think they prosecute on statutory nuisance.

This matter would be one the police should have dealt with - particularly as it was public order rather than a one off domestic do on a private residence with it spilling in to the street.

How many people?

I would say about 90 - hard to tell when people are in and out, but thereabouts. I counted 30 outside at one point and the party was continuing inside.

So it was a house party, not an "illegal rave"???

An illegal rave involves more than 90 people from what I remember from my youth!

Sorry you had to deal with that though, it would piss me off too.

As defined in the Act [Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994], a rave is a "gathering on land in the open air (including a place partly open to the air) of 100 or more persons (whether or not trespassers) at which amplified music is played during the night (with or without intermissions) and such as, by its loudness and duration at the time at which it is played, is likely to cause serious distress to the inhabitants of the locality". Music is described as "sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats". If there is an entertainment license the definition of rave does not apply.

Bloody selfish in a residential area :(

Sounds like a house party rather than a rave.

Yeah police won't be interested about a house party I'm afraid, depending on how busy they are they may send a couple officers around to ask them to turn the music down and call an end to the party but if all thier officers are tied up with other things, than I'm afraid they won't see it as a priority.

Hopefully it was just a one off, however if it becomes a regular occurrence and you don't feel able to sort it out as neighbours then you can get in touch with your councils anti social/noise nuisance team.

Hi, sorry. It was held in an abandoned British Legion hall which is alongside and opposite residential properties. Not a 'house party'. It was advertised on Twitter as a 'secret warehouse party' and the address/postcode was only published that evening. They used a transit van to move the speakers and sound rig out this morning as it would not have fitted into a car. I may have been off on the numbers - I'm only making an estimation based on the number that were spilling out onto the street.
I would not have objected to my neighbours having a party, although to be fair they do not play "sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats" until 9am in the morning.