Police were forced to break up a lockdown party after more than 30 people set up a 'huge tented village' in a woodland area last night.

Officers said the revellers had lit a fire and reported finding bottles of alcohol and nitrous oxide cannisters littered at the scene.

Officers from Cheshire Police's Rural Crime Team assisted their colleagues at Derbyshire Police in dealing with the incident near the Cheshire-Derbyshire border last night, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.

Despite lockdown restrictions slowly being eased, mass gatherings are still banned under government guidance.

Currently only six people from different households are permitted to meet in an outdoor space.

Patrols attending the incident last night discovered the crowd set up around a fire, with alcohol bottles and nitrous oxide cannisters littering the ground.

A Cheshire Police Rural Crime Team spokesman tweeted: "30+ adults set up just over the border in Derbyshire.

"Cheshire RCT supported Derbyshire Police patrols and ensured the group packed up and moved on.

"A huge tented village set in the trees with alcohol lay around, a fire, and with nitrous oxide cannisters littered."

Staffordshire Police have also pledged to clamp down on any such events taking place this weekend.

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Tweats said: "With everything else the police are contending with at the moment, this really shouldn't be one of them.

"It's precisely what Staffordshire Police will be looking out for today and tomorrow and disrupting straight away - wherever it might be."