Brighton beach 'could be no-go area'

Brighton beach could be a no-go area for years, experts warned today after a quarter of a million revellers at Fatboy Slim's weekend Boutique Party left behind a sea of broken glass.

Razor-edged pieces of bottles are embedded so deep between the pebbles that they could be impossible to remove and might reappear when moved by tides or walkers, posing a colossal threat to the city's tourist industry.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said it could take years for the glass to be cleared or made safe by wear and tear.

Organiser Fatboy Slim today vowed he would never stage another such event, which drew crowds as big as last month's Glastonbury festival and left one man dead, a woman critically injured and more than 160 others hurt.

As emergency services and council leaders met to discuss how to prevent a repeat of Saturday night's events, the DJ, real name Norman Cook, said: "I won't do it again. I don't take safety issues lightly. I got the shock of my life. I went to bed thinking it was a triumph but woke up to find it had turned into a nightmare.

"There was chaos but not terror as the papers reported. I just remember thousands of smiling faces on Brighton beach. But saying that, I doubt I'll ever do one again. I do not want to be responsible for someone being hurt or killed."

The experts' warning comes as campaigners today condemned revellers who took glass bottles onto the beach as "totally irresponsible". Although more than 110 tons of rubbish has been collected and the beach was expected to be cleared of rubbish by the end of today, 24-hour teams of "pickers" are still on their hands and knees searching for glass particles.

Beach cleaner Emma Davies, 28, said: "The plastic and paper we can clear but the glass will take for ever. You can clear the top layer of shingle but the broken pieces fall between the pebbles and go deeper.

"The only way to find it is to get down on hands and knees to pick it out. Even then you can't always get at it."

RoSPA today described the mammoth task of clearing the beach as a "nightmare". Head of the society's water and leisure department, Peter Cornall, said: "You are probably looking at a number of years before the sharp edges are rounded off by the waves."

Superintendent Doug Rattray of Brighton and Hove police said: "This year's estimate was based on last year's event which attracted crowds of up to 60,000 and was very well-run. The numbers took everyone by surprise this year. Public safety is paramount and new measures need to be looked at for future events."

Crowds were largely well-behaved but more than 160 suffered crush injuries, of whom two were taken to hospital with broken legs, one with a broken back and others with lacerations from broken glass.

One man suffered a heart attack but it is not known whether he was at the event.

Australian nurse Karen Manders, 26, who lives in London, is today still fighting for her life with severe head and spine injuries after falling 20 feet over seafront railings. Family members who have flown out to be with her are said by a spokesman for the Royal Sussex County Hospital to be "going through hell".