Police seize thousands of pounds of equipment as illegal rave is shutdown

Thousands of pounds worth of equipment has been seized in Essex as new lockdown rules came into force.

Under the new measures, which started on Friday ahead of the bank holiday weekend, organisers of illegal raves will be hit with £10,000 fines.

The event was due to take place in the Burnt Mills area of the town yesterday.

Chief Inspector Lewis Basford said organisers of such events should ask themselves if it was worth the risk of the new fines.

“I want anyone who is planning to go to one of these events to think again.“It’s early in the evening and we’ve already successfully shut down one event, seized the equipment, and will be looking to identify the organiser and take them to court.“Our specially-trained public order officers will be working tirelessly to shut down any similar events in the county. Not only do these large-scale events carry the risk of spreading COVID-19, but we know that they’re often frequented by people who look to cause trouble for the sake of it, which will ruin the good time of anyone there.

Home Secretary, the Essex MP Priti Patel has defended the legislation, saying it represents a crackdown on "the most serious breaches of social distancing restrictions".

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she said: "We will not allow this breathtakingly selfish behaviour from a senseless minority to jeopardise the progress we have made together."