POLICE responding to calls about a Boxing Day rave on hills above Minehead said they were on site within 20 minutes.

However, by then several hundred young people were already present and dozens of cars were parked in the area.

The unlicensed music event on North Hill was first noticed at about 11.40 pm and continued throughout the night until about 11 am on December 27.

Residents complained of being unable to sleep because of the loud music, which was reported to have been heard as far away as Porlock, and hundreds of cars blocking local roads.

People expressed concerns about hygiene with no public toilets available in the area, and the amount of litter being left by those attending the event.

The event appeared to have been centred on the site of a former World War Two radar station and tank training ground on the edge of Exmoor National Park.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson said: “An access road was subsequently closed to limit access to the site, before powers were authorised allowing officers to force vehicles to leave the area.

“Our priority was to ensure public safety while also limiting disruption to the local community.

“A small number of calls were received from members of the public overnight and, after engagement with officers, organisers switched off the music before 11 am on December 27 and the crowd dispersed.

“Officers remained in the area into the afternoon to ensure the site was safely cleared.”

The spokesperson said at least one person was arrested for driving while under the influence of a controlled drug.

In September, a similar rave near Triscombe Stone, a remote part of the Quantock Hills, was broken up by police who dispersed the hundreds of attendees in the early hours of the morning.