POLICE have vowed to take action against the organisers of a huge illegal party which left a trail of destruction across a Hamsphire beauty spot.

Hundreds of revellers are thought to have descended on the Farley Mount Country Park near Win-chester late on Saturday night in what police say was the biggest unauthorised party in the district in a decade.

Officers noticed an unusual number of cars and vans converging on the site shortly after 11.30pm, but decided at that time not to try to halt the planned party.

A spokesman for the police said: "Due to the amount of people and their general mood, officers decided that it would be unsafe to try to close the party and evict the revellers."

Instead, a police spotter plane was launched to keep an eye on things and to identify ringleaders for possible prosecutions.

Police estimate that by 9am on Sunday there were more than 100 vehicles on the site, with the number of partygoers thought to be between 200 and 250.

However, by Sunday lunchtime and with no sign of the party ending, officers did move in and order the event to stop.

The spokesman added that officers received a hostile reaction from the crowd, but no one was injured and by 7pm all the revellers had left.

Insp Steve Sargent of Alresford police said: "We will be looking at the evidence that was recorded over the weekend and will definitely be taking action against the organisers.

"As is usual in these cases, damage was caused to the site and disruption was caused to the community - not only those trying to sleep in nearby villages, but those who wanted to use Farley Mount for recreation on Sunday."

He added that two arrests were made for driving while unfit, and that more could be pending.

He said: "We don't like closing down people's parties and are not against anyone having a good time, but a relatively small number of people enjoying themselves at an event of this nature causes huge disruption for the rest of the community."

One local resident, who asked not to be named, said: "I could hear the booming of the music for most of the night, and it did make it difficult to sleep.

"These people just don't think of anyone else, and the mess they leave behind is even worse."

Councillor John Steel, Winchester City Council member for Sparsholt, said: "We have had this problem over a number of years now and I know the park wardens and the police have developed a procedure to try to nip it in the bud.

"But if several hundred people arrive all at once determined to hold a party, there's very little that can be done."

Asked if he thought the police could have done more, Cllr Steel added: "You have to be realistic about resources.

"In order to get enough police officers up to Farley Mount to shut down something on this scale, you would have to strip all the officers from Winchester city centre and that would cause its own problems."

A clean-up operation has since got under way to clear-up the mess left by the partygoers.