SATURDAY night’s fracas at the River Ray Industrial Estate shocked residents and businesses – but they believe the incident was a one-off.

Since ravers chose Saturday night to host the event, it meant there was minimal disruption to nearby businesses and stores.

The industrial estate near Bruce Street Bridges sits near to the B&Q store of Great Western Way and is home to a Lidl’s store, as well as several businesses including Eden Sound Disco, Kall Fit Tyres and Car Services and Thames Water.

The directors of CB Autos, a car dealership directly next door to the empty unit selected by revellers to host the party, were unreachable on Sunday but damage to nearby property was minimal – although police reported that fencing had been vandalised during the night.

Meanwhile Thamesdown Transport, which manages the entire Swindon bus network and is based on the estate, suffered minimal disruption to its Sunday morning service.

Only passengers trying to catch the number 22 bus were delayed, with drivers having to operate from the bus stop at B&Q rather than from outside the Lidl store.

Thamesdown Transport managing director Paul Jenkins said: “Fortunately, there was no disruption to our services, apart from service 22, which for an hour on Sunday morning had to operate from the bus stop at B&Q.

“All services were able to operate as normal from 10.30am onwards.”

Charles Morris, duty manager at the nearby Lidl store in Barnfield Close, also said that the incident had not caused any disruption at the store or affected customers coming in.

He said: “It didn’t really affect us and we weren’t really aware of what was going on.

“It hasn’t affected us in any way and we haven’t had any trouble.

“Police had mostly dealt with the incident by the time we opened at 10am.”

One passing dog-walker, who did not wish to be named, was shocked to hear about the incident.

She said: “I didn’t hear anything last night. Nothing like that has ever happened around here before, I had no idea.

“I wish I had known, I might have come along.”

Councillor Des Moffat (Lab, Rodbourne Cheney) said he had never heard of raves taking place north of the railway line in the town before and did not expect the revellers to return.

He said: “I don’t think they will be back any time soon and I’m no more concerned than anyone should be, and I hope that the police have caught the ringleaders.

“Society should be concerned generally about incidents like this happening, about the increase in the number of alcohol and drug-fuelled crimes.

“The last time anything happened like this was 10 years ago, I haven’t heard of anything like this happening in this area of Swindon before.”

It was not known at the time of going to print who the owners of the empty unit were and Alder King, the estate agents responsible for leasing the unit, were unreachable.