AN illegal rave was staged by New Year's Eve revellers within a disused warehouse at Newnham Lane on the Mill Lane trading estate in Alton. Some 900 people gathered at the former Laleham Healthcare building for the party which lasted into the early hours of New Year's Day. Police followed a convoy of 40-50 vehicles - including several camper vans - into Alton at 12-30 am on New Year's Day. But the vehicles dispersed, heading north towards Odiham. By 2 am police had been alerted to a rave party at Mill Lane. As the celebration was well away from residential areas and the event seemed to be under control, police decided it would not be practical to call in reinforcements to disperse the party goers. "By 5 am on New Year's Day most people had left, and there were no barricades on the roads," said a police spokesman. The incident is being investigated as a public order offence, but if anything is found to have been substantially damaged, then it could be pursued under a criminal damage category.
