Police attended a lockdown rave of some 300 people but couldn’t break it up due to the ‘sheer volume’ of intoxicated revellers. Dozens of officers stormed the mass gathering in the Paston area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

They were initially called at 8.20pm on Monday to reports of seven or eight cars and 20 to 30 people gathering on a road. They found hundreds more then they arrived and decided there were insufficient numbers to safely move people on from the area.

Just after 10pm the ambulance service contacted police to say someone had suffered minor injuries after being struck by a vehicle. At 11pm people gradually started to leave the area, however about an hour later there were reports someone had been stabbed. More officers were sent in, including specialist units, to help ambulance crews find the victim.

But no one with knife wounds was found, nor had they presented themselves at hospital. Around 16 police officers stayed at the scene to monitor the situation, deal with any potential dangers and to advise people to go home.

Just after 1am the majority of people had left the area. About half an hour later the music was turned off and everyone had cleared off. Police remained at the location until about 4am and will be carrying out patrols of the area throughout the week.

Superintendent Adam Gallop, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: ‘We understand local residents were concerned, and some frightened, by the large gathering last night. ‘We will be conducting enquiries in the area over the coming days so residents may notice an increased presence. We will also be conducting patrols in the area to prevent any further similar incidents. ‘There is a line between organising community events to build morale in this challenging time, and the events of last night which very clearly were not acceptable.