Banwen rave: Eight fined and arrests made for drug driving

Eight people have now been fined up to £10,000 after an illegal rave that attracted 3,000 people, with arrests also made for public order offences and driving under the influence of drugs.

The unlicensed event at Banwen, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, started Saturday night.

There were still 400 people at the site on Monday morning.

South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thorne said drone footage would help identify organisers.

Officers believe 22 people were involved in planning the rave.

A student who attended the rave admitted being taken aback by the scale of the event and likened it to a festival.

Mr Thorne said it "caught us unaware" but officers were quickly deployed after calls were received.

He added: "It is 4,000 acres, a significant sized area, where there was an opencast mine but it is now forested.

"It is now generally used for rally driving, so you can understand how hostile the land is - and large.

"We used drones to try and picture where everyone was."

He described a police helicopter and specialist officers sent to the event, with assistance from Dyfed-Powys Police and British Transport Police.

There were "a few arrests" he said, for public order offences, such as urinating in the street and drug taking.

Eight people have also been issued with fines of up to £10,000, under new legislation introduced by the Welsh Government last week to stop gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Vehicles have also been seized, and Mr Thorne said drone footage would be studied to try and identify the organisers.

He said the 400 people still there on Monday morning would be prosecuted if they did not leave by the end of the day.

"I'd like to appeal to those who have organised it to take a level of personal responsibility," he added.

"Local communities have been trying really hard to adhere to coronavirus rules and to have 3,000 people come in and not adhere to it, is really irresponsible."

Niamh, a student from Cardiff who attended, said she made a last minute decision to go and admitted being "taken aback" by the size of it

"Of course there's that level of feeling bad for the people around there, and I did, but I didn't understand until I went there how big it was," she said.

"It was more of a festival, spread across a good few acres of land."

While she said she understood why people would think it was selfish, she said she had a mask on, social distanced and had hand sanitiser.

She added: "If older people are allowed to sit in their garden with friends, go for dinner, go into shops, where you're still interacting with a lot of people, what's the difference with people socially distancing and having a dance in a forest outdoors?

"I think there's a lot of stigma around young people doing their version of socialising just because it's not the same as you going for dinner or into the shops in town, where you're around just as many people one metre apart. What's the difference with doing that outdoors in the woods?"

Niamh said the words "illegal rave" conjured images of "a bunch of crazy people breaking the rules", but she said: "It was a very relaxed atmosphere and everyone was being as safe as they possibly could."