AROUND 3,000 people gathered for an unauthorised beachfront party at Bournemouth Pier that some residents claimed left behind a “disgraceful” mess.

Dorset police said they were called to a ‘Sierra Leone Day’ event at 5.33pm on Saturday.

A spokesman said the people were mainly families enjoying dancing and music and they dispersed them without incident by 8pm.

There was no prior warning and the event was not authorised by the council, said the spokesman.

Dorset police said they were not able to trace an organiser.

A Bournemouth Tourism spokesman said the event had a good atmosphere and that the Seafront Rangers were pleased with how it went considering it was unplanned.

The spokesman said the coaches were due to leave at 8pm anyway, adding: “If the rangers had cracked down, it would have caused more issues.

“They used common sense. The beach was cleaned in the morning as usual.”

Matthew Piovan, 27, the general manager of Aruba, the bar overlooking the pier, said: “The beach was filthy afterwards, absolutely disgraceful.

“There was barbecue rubbish, food, bottles, stuff all over the beach.

“It’s usually clean in the morning but the council was still working on it by 9am.”

Sarah Crow, 25, a host at the bar, said: “A couple of people came in and said they had never seen the beach like that before – one said it had brought a tear to his eye.”

Lisa Alway, 43, a holidaying Tesco worker from Heathrow, said the beach was “horrendous” and the worst she had seen it in five years of visiting.

She said the next day: “We came down this morning just to see what it was like. How they cleaned it up was a miracle.”

Cllr Andrew Morgan, chairman of the licensing board, said: “I understand they applied for a licence, but it was too late.”

He saw the mess in the morning and described it as “unbelievable.” He said: “A member of beach front staff told me apart from the air festival and bank holidays it was the worst they have ever seen.”