Party over but massive clean-up goes on

A massive clean-up operation was under way tonight after almost a quarter of a million people turned the streets of a city into a giant party - bringing chaos, injuries and arrests.

A 26-year-old woman was still critically ill after falling from railings as tens of thousands of revellers tried to leave Brighton following the Big Beach Boutique, a free open air rave staged by DJ Fatboy Slim.

There were chaotic scenes as revellers clung to ambulances to escape the crush, and scores of people had to be plucked from the sea.

Casualties were ferried out of the resort by lifeboat because the party had jammed the streets and ambulances and stretcher parties could not get through the crush to treatment centres.

Police chiefs and council bosses were tonight planning urgent talks about how an event expected to attract no more than 60,000 turned into the biggest public gathering ever seen in Sussex.

A Sussex Police spokesman said tonight: ‘‘This was the biggest event Sussex has ever seen and lessons will be no doubt be learned. No one expected those sorts of numbers. I am sure there will be many meetings to discuss the future of the event.’’

Human gridlock gripped the seaside resort as more and more revellers from all over the country flocked to the beach to catch a glimpse of Hove-based Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook.

Organisers and all the emergency services admitted the huge scale of the turn out - prompted by major publicity for the event and one of the warmest summer evenings of 2002 - took them completely by surprise.

Now questions are being asked about how a repeat of last night’s events could be prevented.

Steve Tilling, a senior control centre manager for Sussex Ambulance Service, said: ‘‘The event, to which it is estimated that between 240,000 and 250,000 attended, did have a major impact on us and every other service.

‘‘With hindsight, it would be easy to say it was awful and should never have happened. But we are lucky in Sussex to have places where we can hold such events and I think generally they should go ahead.

‘‘But I think we now need to approach this event on the side of caution and look at ways of somehow limiting numbers, because it did have a major effect on the people of Brighton, and on the emergency services.’’

Fatboy Slim pledged his own money to help speed up the clean-up operation.

A statement from the organisers said: ‘‘Norman Cook is spending extra funds on the clean-up operation and the programme will be completed by Monday afternoon. Within ten hours of the end of the event, 60 tons of rubbish had been cleansed and it proceeds in earnest.’’

And the DJ himself said: ‘‘This was without doubt the biggest gig of my career. Brighton has responded superbly. I would like to thank the emergency services on the night and everyone involved in the clean-up operation.

‘‘We now have to return the city I love to how it should be seen.’’

Residents of Brighton and revellers at the event told of their experiences of the beach party and the nightmare of trying to leave the city.

Student Lorna Newbury, 22, from Brighton, said: ‘‘The city was such a mess when it was all over. There were piles of rubbish everywhere.

‘‘I do not believe it can take place again next year like this. A fence of some kind may have to be put up because we cannot see scenes like that again. It was ridiculous, dangerous. Everyone was squashed in. It was frightening.’’

Emily Hobbs, 31, from Croydon, south London, said: ‘‘It was utter lunacy. We could not get close enough to hear, let alone see anything. People were hanging out of buildings and standing on top of cars just to try and get a look.

‘‘You could sense something was wrong, that there were just too many people. Ambulances were trying to get through the crowds and people were hanging off the back just to get away from the crowds.

‘‘At the end we could not get home and all the hotels were full so we had to sleep under the pier.’’

Stephen Vaughan, 23, who travelled from south London, said: ‘‘We were quite near the front and from a very early stage it was absolutely crammed.

‘‘More and more people kept coming and coming and a few people were getting worried about crushing. It could have been another Hillsborough.’’

Such were the numbers of people on the beach that the crew of Brighton Lifeboat were forced to ferry revellers in need of medical attention to Brighton Marina throughout the party.

A Solent Coastguard spokesman said about 20 people were taken to the marina, two miles east of Brighton Pier, where an ambulance was stationed. At least six people were spotted in difficulties in the water and had to be rescued.

‘‘The whole event was not too bad for us but it was a pain,’’ said the Coastguard spokesman.

"Several people were taken unconscious from the water with suspected overdoses of one kind or another. We gave them hot showers and treatment for hypothermia.

‘‘One man regained consciousness and started to kick off a bit. Two poor guys on the lifeboat had to stop him leaping back overboard. He was not going to make it in the sea. Police were waiting for him. They put him in cuffs and pepper-sprayed him.

‘‘Another man decided to jump off the end of Brighton Pier. We got him back to the beach safely. He might not have made it without us.’’

Police said thousands of people were stranded in Brighton early today, after the party because transport services were overwhelmed.

Massive traffic queues built up yesterday on the A23 as far back as Hickstead, 10 miles north of Brighton, and the A259 coast road was also blocked as people flocked to the event.

Inspector Lloyd Balfour of Sussex Police said rail operators laid on at least four extra trains, but even so buses had to be brought in during the early hours of the morning to take people away.

‘‘There were some difficulties experienced at the station and police did attend the railway station and there were some problems that we dealt with there.’’

British Transport Police said a large number of people had difficulty getting home after the event finished. Acting Inspector Barry Carpenter said officers had to shut Brighton station gates periodically to control the crowds trying to enter the station.

Detectives tonight renewed their appeal for information concerning the woman who fell from the Upper Esplanade onto the Lower Esplanade near the Arc nightclub at 1.30am today. The incident was being treated as suspicious.

The woman was in a critical condition at Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital. A man in his forties died after suffering a heart attack on the beach during the party at 10pm last night.

In total there were 30 injuries, mostly minor, and six arrests for assaults and drunk and disorderly behaviour.