Westfield residents endured a very disturbed night last Saturday, 2nd November as the Bookcraft warehouse on Westfield Trading Estate became the scene of an illegal rave attended by over 1,000 partygoers.

A local resident got in touch with The Journal to express their disappointment in how the event unfolded.

"Unless you live within about a mile of the Bookcraft warehouse on Westfield Trading Estate, you probably had a reasonable night's sleep on Saturday, 2nd November.

"However, those of us that do, found our houses vibrating to the thumping and noise of an illegal rave. At 4.30 a.m., I checked the Avon and Somerset Police website for noise nuisance and saw that I should phone Bath and North East Somerset Council. There were two numbers, one being 'out of hours'. As this noise had been going already for nearly five hours, you can draw your own conclusion as to why the call was not answered and voicemail was switched off. Then, phoning the police, I was told that they had been aware since midnight and were 'doing what they could' on site, but had fears for the safety of their officers and the revellers.

"After nearly five hours of 'doing what they could', I was not hopeful of any chance of sleep for the rest of the night. At 8.30 a.m., I went to the scene and was told by an officer from one of the two police cars on duty, that there were still over 1,000 people in the warehouse and that they themselves had been ejected!

"I can understand why a small group of police were not going to pull the plug on crazed ravers in full flow, but it is a huge concern that sheer numbers of people can overwhelm law and order to our detriment."

Radstock's Inspector Shirley Eden said that police were limited in what they could do to control the rave or to close it down because of the large number of people on site and because resources were committed elsewhere across the force area, such as at Bridgwater Carnival. She said: "We take raves and illegal gatherings seriously and will do what we can to avert any disruption to the public by closing them down and seizing musical equipment.

"In this case, we did not have advanced intelligence about the event. There is often a very short timescale in which we are able to take action when an illegal rave is reported.

"Our officers did turn a significant amount of people away, but the risk of serious disorder and to public safety was considerably high and therefore a decision was taken to bring the rave to an end later in the morning. We apologise to the community for any inconvenience caused."