UP TO 300 teenagers descended upon a popular beauty spot near Dunbar for a boisterous end-of-exams party – with many of them being driven to the scene “with large quantities of alcohol” by their PARENTS.

The youngsters, who are thought to have come from Dunbar and Haddington, ventured to Bullet Hill at John Muir Country Park last Friday evening, with many of them celebrating leaving school. The vast majority were under 18 years of age.

Police Constable Gavin Ross noted at a meeting on Monday of Dunbar’s Community and Police Partnership (CAPP) that “many” were being dropped off by parents “with large quantities of alcohol”.

After the meeting, the officer said: “We are now aware that there were a large volume of them from Haddington as well as Dunbar.

“A Facebook page had been set up and 500 people said they were going to attend, with between 200 and 300 people attending.” Police received information about the planned party and turned up at about 7.55pm and “poured away large quantities of alcohol”. There was no disorder or arrests.

The officer added: “I would say there are three issues: one, drinking there is illegal as it is contrary to the prohibition zone.

“Secondly, there is a safety issue for them to drink large quantities of alcohol in an extremely rural location. Third, the extreme amounts of litter.” A byelaw was put in place in 2008 which outlawed drinking in public places in Dunbar, West Barns and John Muir Country Park.

Last month, police had identified anti-social behaviour in John Muir Country Park as one of three policing priorities at Dunbar’s CAPP meeting.

On Monday, PC Ross said: “John Muir Country Park was doing nicely until Friday last week.

“I received information from a number of sources that there would be a big party at Bullet Hill, as appears traditional for S6 leavers. There were 200-300 there and it was S6 leavers plus a lot of hangers-on, S4 and S5 as well.” He stressed that not all in attendance were underage or drinking alcohol but felt it was “fair to say” there would have been underage drinking.

The officer, who was not on duty at the time, told the CAPP meeting that he was walking his dog the following day at the site and it was “a hell of a mess”.

He added: “The Countryside Rangers were contacted and they said they would get the community service folk out to assist with the tidy up but I noticed on Sunday that somebody, likely a member of the public, had tidied it up and bagged it.

“There were four black bags filled to the brim with rubbish and still quite a lot of other rubbish. That was disappointing, we knew it was going to happen and we did our best.” The officer noted that the end-of-exams celebrations had increased in size at John Muir Country Park each year and in the past music speakers had been taken to create a party atmosphere.

He added: “My concern is it was quite a nice evening, a lot of people have had a good time. Will this be the start of it for the summer each time we get nice weather?” Speaking after the meeting, he said: “If the parents had attended on the Saturday morning and seen the mess, they would have been disappointed.” He vowed to keep an eye on the situation and retained the issue as one of three local priorities ahead of the next CAPP meeting, which takes place next month.

Councillor Michael Veitch, a Dunbar councillor and depute leader of East Lothian Council, was not at the meeting but spoke to the Courier on Wednesday. He said: “Obviously, any damage to the country park and mess being left behind is disappointing.

“You can fully understand why young people want to relax and have fun after the stress of exams but likewise any consumption of alcohol by people underage is disappointing.” Jacquie Bell, vice-chairwoman of Dunbar’s community council, was at the meeting, and said afterwards: “It’s definitely a worry, particularly if parents are dropping off youngsters aged 16 and the parents have bought them alcohol.

“They are abetting kids to commit an offence.” She also highlighted that if there was some sort of accident, it would be difficult for emergency services to get to them due to the remote location.

An East Lothian Council spokeswoman said: “The Countryside Rangers have had to deal with the aftermath of such events which have been held annually in recent years.

“More than 12 bags of rubbish has so far been collected from last weekend including broken glass which could injure children playing, dogs and wildlife.”