Since the death of a young man following an illegal rave in Hayes, Hillingdon Council has said it has been cracking down on the impromptu ‘warehouse parties’ and has stopped three in recent weeks.

The authority and Hillingdon police moved after Tom Spargo-Mabbs, a 16-year-old boy from Croydon, was taken ill at a rave in a disused industrial unit in Pump Lane, Hayes on January 18 . He died later in hospital.

Two men from south London have been charged with supplying drugs and one faces a charge of possessing drugs.

In March, a large crowd of would-be partygoers descended on Uxbridge after a party elsewhere was shut down, having been prompted to go to Ashley Road in Uxbridge Industrial Estate by social media websites.

A member of London Underground staff was taken to hospital following an incident involving members of the crowd of up to 300 at Uxbridge station. No arrests were made.

The Uxbridge party was visited by police and shut down within two hours.

Now council officers in the anti-social behaviour team and CCTV monitoring team have been working together and with police to stop events before they start.

The so-called ‘pop-up’ parties are often publicised at short notice, and the first signs are large gatherings of people. Officers monitoring CCTV then call police.

The council has also asked people living close to disused industrial space, warehouses and derelict land to be on the lookout.

“Officers have been carrying out some excellent investigation work to identify these parties but we are also calling on residents to keep their eyes and ears open,” said Jean Palmer, the council’s director of residents’ services.

“So far we have intervened at an early stage and prevented the raves from getting fully underway, which has saved a lot of disturbance to residents. We will continue to work with the police to identify the organisers and prevent further nuisance being made.”

If an illegal party does slip through the net and gets started, you can either call police on 101 or contact the council’s anti-social behaviour investigation team.

It operates from 8am-6pm Monday-Friday on 01895 556000, then out of hours on Thursday to Sunday only, from 8pm-2am Thursday night, 9pm-3am on Friday-Saturday and Saturday-Sunday, then from 7pm on Sunday to 1am Monday, and can be contacted on 01895 250111.