Police say 'no' to festival

9:00am Wednesday 21st June 2006

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AN UNLICENSED three-day music festival for 150 of people was shut down just minutes before its start by police worried it would turn into a massive rave.

And when a few of the audience tried to salvage something of the night by returning to Oxford to stage their own music party in Greater Leys, police moved in to stop that as well making one arrest.

"This was an unlicensed event that the police and district council have prevented taking place because of the possibility of it causing a public nuisance and disorder."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman

Party-goers including families with children were ordered to leave The Midsommer Reggae Festival at the Crawley Inn, Crawley, on Friday night.

Organisers had not got a temporary entertainment licence, and were forced to pack up sound equipment, tents, children's bouncy castle and even an organic juice bar.

Police also ordered landlords to close the Crawley Inn for 24 hours. About 150 people were expected at the three-day festival, with revellers arriving in the Oxfordshire countryside from as far away as Wales and Birmingham.

Midsommer Reggae Festival promoter, David Allen, said: "They literally said pack it up, or it will get impounded.

"The police were very forceful about the eviction, and said they feared for public disorder and that we were throwing a big party. The police seemed to believe it was an illegal rave. But this was to be a family-orientated and well-organised music festival."

Up to 40 people who had set up tents at the pub for the festival were ordered from the site at 6pm, along with the music crew and promoters.

The plans had been for outdoor music on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, until sunset, with revellers carrying on the party inside the pub, Mr Allen added.

The festival had been advertised on local radio and on flyers, but neither the pub nor promoters had got a temporary entertainment licence from the district council.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "This was an unlicensed event that the police and district council have prevented taking place because of the possibility of it causing a public nuisance and disorder."

Four hours later, police in a van and with a helicopter stopped an illegal outdoor party in fields off Grenoble Road, in Greater Leys, Oxford, and made one arrest. It is understood they were revellers from the festival who had decided to hold their own event, but police turned up and impounded music equipment and a vehicle. A 20-year-old man was arrested and given a caution for possession of class-C drugs.