WELL over 100 people gathered near Soudley for an illegal rave over the weekend.

The event was held in the Staple Edge woodland on Forestry Commission land on Bradley Hill.

The rave kicked off at about 9pm on Saturday, but was brought to a halt by 10.45am on Sunday morning.

However, police were only notified of the event via a call to them at 1.30am on Sunday, with a local resident saying it had been ’going on for hours’.

In fact during the night, Gloucestershire Constabulary only received three calls.

Inspector Steve Chester told The Forester: “Had we received calls as soon as the event had started we could have shut it down a lot earlier.

“But once the rave was in full swing it was harder to deal with. We started bringing matters under control by daybreak and the last raver was removed by 10.45am.”

Inspector Chester advised residents: “If you hear a rave in progress, don’t leave it to others to phone the police. Take the initiative and report the problem immediately.

"We could have silenced this rave a lot earlier if we had known about it when it started.”