Greater Manchester Police have released details from at least two illegal raves that took place in the region yesterday.
Thousands of people attended raves in Droylsden, Carrington, and Daisy Nook in Oldham last night (Saturday 13 June) – and it has been confirmed that one man has passed away from a suspected drug overdose while there were three separate reported stabbings.
One of the stabbing incidents has resulted in life threatening injuries to an 18-year-old male.
It has also been reported by the BBC that an 18-year-old woman was raped at the rave in Carrington, which was attended by thousands of people.
A GMP spokesperson said: “In Carrington there are believed to have been around 2,000 people at the peak of the gathering. There were three separate reported stabbings, including one where an 18-year-old man was left with life threatening injuries.”
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There has been a scathing response to the illegal raves online, after Snapchat and Instagram videos from revellers spread like wildfire – and they quickly condemned by thousands of disgusted social media users.
It was also a frustrating sight for Parklife founder Sacha Lord, who would have been hosting Parklife 2020 this weekend under rare sunny skies.
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He wrote on Twitter: “If you are one of the morons who attended one of the illegal raves in Partington and Daisy Nook last night, you are a disgrace.
“You’ve now put yourselves, your friends, your families and loved ones at risk. I’ve seen some of the footage. You aren’t clubbers. Just selfish idiots.”
The response on Twitter has been overwhelming. Here are just a few of the tweets from the last few hours, as news of the raves spread not only across the UK, but the world.
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Respect to every single person who used up their Sunday afternoons cleaning up the mess left behind.
The locations of these raves are often frequented by families with small children, and the rubbish and paraphernalia that was left in their wake is completely inexcusable.
Let’s hope the repercussions of these gatherings aren’t as serious as predicted.
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Record 29 million people expected to drive home for Christmas this year
Emily Sergeant
Drivers are being told to prepare for long queues, as a record number of festive trips are predicted across the UK ahead of the big day.
With the festive season generally known to make the roads nationwide busier than usual, travel warnings have now been issued to all those making Christmas getaway trips for the holidays – with an annual study by the RAC and INRIX suggesting that 29 million journeys are planned before Christmas Day arrives.
Nearly half of these journeys (14.3 million) are set to be crammed into this coming weekend.
But, as Christmas falls mid-week this year, the figures suggest there will be an extended period of ‘pre-Christmas panic’ on the roads, with 5.7m trips taken yesterday and today alone.
The true festive getaway kicks off tomorrow (20 December), with an expected 3 million trips on this day, before the figure then jumps up to 3.7 million and 2.9 million this coming weekend (Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 December) – which is the final weekend before the big day itself.
By far the single busiest day, however, has to be Christmas Eve, with 3.8 million separate getaway journeys expected by car, on top of the final flurries of commuter traffic.
To make matters worse for everyone, the RAC’s research has also revealed that a further 4.7 million trips are expected at some point between the 20 and 22 December, and 2.5 million on either the 23 or 24 December, all coming from motorists who haven’t yet decided which day they’ll travel.
When it comes to the best and worst times to travel over the festive period, the research has revealed that the worst time to travel along major routes will be between 1pm and 7pm, especially tomorrow and Saturday, so both the RAC and INRIX are suggesting that drivers set off early in the morning, or later in the evening when the heaviest of the traffic should have subsided.
After the big day, there are an additional 4.4 million trips predicted on Boxing Day and 3.8 million on Friday 27 December.
On these days, drivers are advised to avoid major roads during the hours of 10am to 3pm, which is when journeys are expected to take significantly longer than usual.
A third of Brits want police to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside
Emily Sergeant
A third of Brits support giving police powers to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside, a new survey has revealed.
Ahead of the festive travel season, where a record number of people are expected to hit the road and make journeys all across the UK over the next couple of days, the RAC has asked more than 2,500 drivers to give their thoughts on the state of the roads for 2024’s edition of the Report on Motoring, and found that tougher sentences were the most popular solution among motorists for tackling the problem of drink-driving.
With instances of drink-driving said to be responsible for the deaths of some 300 people in 2022 – which is when the latest data on this was collected – four in 10 motorists (38%) believe harsher sentences are the answer.
A third of drivers (33%) also support giving the police new powers to immediately disqualify drink-drivers at the roadside once they’ve been stopped.
The idea that convicted drink-drivers should have alcohol interlocks, also known as ‘alcolocks’, fitted to their vehicles to prevent them driving if they have any alcohol in their system, was favoured by 32% of those questioned by the RAC.
A similar number of drivers (31%) also want to see roadside breathalyser testing increased.
When it comes to drug drivers, results from the RAC’s survey are a similar story, only higher – with almost two-thirds of all drivers (64%) supporting tougher sentencing for drug-drivers, and 56% saying they would like to see increased levels of roadside testing.
Just under half (49%) of motorists questioned want the police to be able to immediately disqualify drug-drivers at the roadside.
Speaking on the findings from the RAC’s survey, Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, commented: “In policing, we see the damaging impact of drink and drug driving all too often, and every fatality or serious injury which happens as a consequence of this is completely avoidable.
“Driving under the influence of drink or drugs puts everyone at risk – individuals, families, businesses and whole communities.