Police respond to 150 person 'illegal rave' in Derbyshire quarry

Police have made arrests after attending to the reports of an "illegal rave" in a former Derbyshire quarry. Officers have estimated that around 150 people were in attendance of the gathering, and attended the scene twice after a significant number of calls.

Officers received a 'significant' number of reports of a "illegal rave" in Halldale Quarry, a former limestone quarry near Matlock, just before 11.40pm on Saturday evening, November 2, as residents had become distressed over the event.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said there was a "significant number of calls to the force which required immediate attendance" that evening - "including crimes in progress and incidents where people's lives were at risk"

Therefore officers first attended the "illegal" gathering at around 2am on Sunday November 3, where they found around 150 people to be in attendance.

Due to the large number of people at the rave, police were unable to ensure the safety of those being removed from the quarry, therefore leaving the event before returning on that same day.

Upon returning at 12.45pm on Sunday November 3, they went to check that those that had left the site safely and carried out stop checks on a number of vehicles found nearby. Which led to the discovery of several vehicles that were held class A and class B drugs.

These checks led to the arrest of a 26-year-old man on suspicion of drug driving, who has been since been released under investigation.

A 30-year-old man has was also reported for summons after being found in possession of a number of suspected drugs.

This has led the Detective Superintendent Sarah McAughtrie to express her thanks to the local community after their reports. She said: "I appreciate the disruption and distress this event caused to the local community and I am grateful to all those who contacted us about it.

"I can also appreciate the frustration regarding how long the event was allowed to continue. However, as the senior officer in charge of the force over the weekend I have to balance the safety of officers, and those who are in attendance.

"To have large numbers of people, who may be drunk or have taken drugs, moving around in the dark presents significant risks to them - as well as the police officers on site.

"As a county we have seen a drop off in the number of these types of events and we rely on local people reporting when potential raves are being set up, so that we can ensure that officers are able to stop them before they begin."