THE Earl of Cardigan is angry that while police officers took no action to end an illegal drinks and drugs rave in Savernake Forest at the weekend, they did stop and breathalyse him as he drove back from Marlborough on Sunday evening.

The breath test was negative. Lord Cardigan said: "Did they really believe that with police all over the place I would be so stupid as to drink and drive?"

He is also concerned because he believes Wiltshire police have given a green light to rave organisers to look on the county as an open house for their events.

He believes the police could and should have broken up the illegal rave.

Police and council environmental health officers were inundated with complaints from people whose sleep was disturbed on Saturday and Sunday night. The calls poured in from as far away as Ramsbury, Stitchcombe and Burbage.

Chief Superintendent Mandy Evely, who was in charge of the police operation at the weekend, defended her decision not to break up the event saying it could have resulted in violence and injuries.

Lord Cardigan, who owns the forest, has been at the forefront of critics who this week slammed the softly-softly approach of the police.

He said that although police declared the event on his land illegal, they failed to use their powers under the Criminal Justice Act to move in and seize the music systems.

He said he could understand them letting the rave proceed on Saturday night after he alerted them at midnight that it was taking place.

But, he said, there was no reason why officers did not use their legal powers to move in during the day on Sunday to seize the sound equipment and prevent a second night of nuisance for hundreds of families.

"The bottom line is that those who organised the event have now been told they can come to Wiltshire, smash their way into private property, cause damage to property and that the police will do nothing."

Chief Supt Evely told the Gazette that the lack of violence or confrontation vindicated her decision not to send in officers to break up the event.

Eventually on Monday afternoon, after almost 48 hours non-stop music and dancing, the revellers slowly drifted away leaving the area strewn with rubbish.

Between 800 and 1,000 revellers had taken the police and the Savernake Estate by surprise by descending on the forest as dusk fell on Saturday.

Lord Cardigan said he gave out several hundred copies of an appeal letter to the revellers asking them to leave.

It said: "Raves carry enormous danger for the forest. Savernake is 1,000 years old, is easily damaged and is extremely vulnerable to fire."

Lord and Lady Cardigan also attempted to stop some of the revellers from using alternative routes through the forest. Lord Cardigan said: "We cut down bushes and eventually a mature beech tree in an attempt to stop them driving into the forest."

As soon as police realised the event was taking place in the forest they moved in to prevent any more cars using the Grand Avenue or other forest tracks to reach the site.

Revellers responded by abandoning their cars on the A4 Marlborough-Hungerford road causing obstruction for other traffic.

Ch Supt Evely said a number of the cars were booked and some were towed away.

Police slammed over forest rave

MANY families lost sleep in the Marlborough area at the weekend because of loud music from an illegal rave in Savernake Forest.

Some residents have criticised the softly-softly approach adopted by police to avoid confrontation as about 800 revellers, many of them New Age Travellers, descended on the forest for the 48-hour festival.

Among those critical of the police decision to let the event run its course was the Earl of Cardigan who owns Savernake Forest.

By the time police became aware of the event more than 400 people had already gathered just off the Grand Avenue.

They had set up no fewer than seven stages with amplifiers blasting at full volume.

Complaints were made to the police and to Kennet environmental health officers from as far away as Ramsbury, which is five miles as the crow flies from the rave site next to the Eight Walks in Savernake.

People in Burbage, more than three miles away, complained about the bass beat which pervaded their homes.

In Marlborough some people found it impossible to sleep because of the amplified music from the rave although it was well over a mile from their homes.

Police and Kennet's environmental officers were bombarded with complaints on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

Working closely in conjunction with Lord Cardigan, the police made the Grand Avenue a no-go area to the public.

This upset regular users, like Enid Mitchell, who uses the Grand Avenue as the shortest route between her home in Burbage and Savernake Hospital where she works as a radiographer.

Mrs Mitchell told the Gazette that police stopped her as she went to enter the Grand Avenue at the Durley end and told her it was closed.

She said: "I told them I was on call for the hospital but they said I was not allowed to drive through because of the rave.

"They said they were not allowing anybody through. I asked police who was actually stopping people driving through and they said the ravers.

"I did get through but I had to keep getting out of my car to show them (the revellers) my uniform and explaining I was on my way to the hospital.

"They did let me through although one of two of them opened their car doors across my path to try to stop me driving through."

Mrs Mitchell said that when she reached the end of the Grand Avenue she saw about a dozen police officers who appeared to be turning other drivers back.

She said: "No way were the police saying they would help me through."

Pensioner John Burrows, who lives at Stitchcombe, said he and his wife were woken up at about 4am on Sunday by the thump of loud music.

Mr Burrows said that although their home was about two miles from the forest the noise was too loud to let him and his wife go back to sleep.

He said: "I called the police and they told me they were drafting in officers who were off duty and on leave but nothing happened and the noise continued on Sunday night as well."

In Marlborough hundreds of people complained.

Chief Supt Mandy Evely said officers had been called in from all divisions in Wiltshire to contain the situation.

She said it was her decision not to try and break up the rave because of the risk of injury to either those attending or to her officers.

She said she decided to deal with the situation by means of consultation, rather than confrontation.

There were at least 400 already at the rave when police became aware it was taking place.

Darkness had fallen on Saturday and she considered it was likely a confrontation would have led to violence.

She said it would have been almost impossible with the available officers to try to break up the event and seize the amplification equipment, which the law allows.

The officer said the revellers showed signs of aggression when TV cameras arrived to film the illegal rave.

She said: "They did start to become aggressive and violent at one stage when the TV cameras arrived and started filming.

"It was very volatile and we made some risk assessments and decided that we would try to get the noise reduced without confrontation."

Chief Supt Evely said the organisers of the rave were spoken to on Sunday and they agreed to reduce the volume considerably that night which, the police believed, they did.

She said: "We kept it deliberately co-operative throughout the weekend to reduce any risk of confrontation.

"We are very sorry if people living in and around Marlborough were disturbed but I am sure they will understand that we wanted to avoid any confrontation."

Responding to criticism from Lord Cardigan that the police failed in their duty to seize the amplification equipment, Ch Supt Evely said: "To go in and seize the sound equipment could have provoked violence which is something we were keen to avoid.

"Of course we have the powers to go in but we always have to take public safety into account, the safety of the officers and of the people who were attending the event."

One person was arrested for being in possession of drugs with intent to supply and will be appearing in court.

Kennet District Council spokesman Diana Ralls said environmental health officers received numerous complaints and went to Savernake Forest.

"We are being accused of not doing anything but our officers could not go in if the police were saying no," she said.

"The police took the decision and our environmental health officers had to go by it."